


Changing the World to be Ours

by RewriteTheStars5218



Category: The Greatest Showman (2017)
Genre: Angst, Blood and Violence, Brotherly!PT, Can Phillip Catch a Break?, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Family, Fluff, Friendship, Hurt!Phillip, Hurt/Comfort, Injury Recovery, Love Conquers All, Major Character Injury, No Slash, Parental!Charity, Parental!PT, Period-Typical Racism, PhillipWhump, Protective Circus family, Protective P.T, Protective W.D, Racist Language, Swearing, Whump
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-23
Updated: 2019-07-10
Packaged: 2019-09-25 14:19:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 20
Words: 35,557
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17122976
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RewriteTheStars5218/pseuds/RewriteTheStars5218
Summary: Life at the circus has been going well since the events of the fire. Phillip has settled into his new role as full time Ring Master as well as his (official) relationship with Anne.Everything seems to be going well but you can only hide from the harsh realities of the world for so long. What will happen to our favorite circus family when hatred finds its way back to the Greatest Show? How will they react when one of their own is hurt (again) at the hands of ignorance and intolerance? Will all the emotional progress the group has made be undone or will they find the strength to keep moving forward





	1. It’s Not a Secret I Try to Hide

**Author's Note:**

> Update: I made some much needed changes to the first 3 chapter. I tweaked/added some details and I added a lot of much needed spacing between my paragraphs. (I am still learning how to space things so it doesn’t read like a blob of text)  
> ****************************************************************************************  
> This is my first ever fanfic. I absolutely loved The Greatest Showman and felt that they easily could of added another 40-45min to the movie. I am a hurt/comfort fan so of course my story is going to put one of our main characters *cough*Phillip*cough* through the ringer. I adore the relationship between Phillip and Anne and wished the movie could had expanded on those two more. I have had this story running through my head for a LONG time. I really hope you enjoy it.

As the final lyrics were sung and the circus troop hit their final pose for the night the crowd irrupted into thunderous applause.

Phillip Carlyle, slightly out of breath, looked around at the audience, absorbing their enthusiastic cheers. He could feel the adrenalin rush he got at the end of every show starting to kick in.

This was, no doubt, Phillip’s favorite part of the night. His smile grew as he looked around and saw how much the audience truly loved their show. Finally, the show felt complete.

In that moment, all the growing pains and hardship the circus had gone through to get to this point, felt like a lifetime ago. In reality, it wasn’t that long ago that they almost lost it all.  
~~~  
  
P.T Barnum almost lost himself in his ambitious drive to gain acceptance from upper-class society, the circus almost lost the only home and family they had truly know, and Phillip almost lost his life trying to hold it all together.

Back then Phillip felt so out of place and so overwhelmingly inexperienced when he was thrown into the Ring Master position while P.T toured around the country with Jenny Lind.

P.T might had been overly ambitious and a bit eccentric at times, but there was no doubt he was able to hype up his troop before their performance just by his mere presence. His crazy, creative ideas fueled the whole show and the troop, and the audience fed off his enthusiasm.

Phillip did not have that level of enthusiasm (not that he was willing to show at least) and that lead to the troop falling into this robotic state of performing while P.T was away.

It wasn’t that they disliked Phillip, or that Phillip was doing anything wrong, but the “spark” that they once had was gone, a spark that only seemed to ignite when P.T was running the show.

The troop, including Phillip, felt abandoned by P.T, the man who brought so much hope and meaning to their lives, and no matter how hard Phillip tried to be that person for them, the sting of abandonment from P.T was not something the troop was going to get over anytime soon.

After the fire, everything changed. P.T saw firsthand how quickly he could lose everything.

In the blink of an eye P.T has lost Jenny Lind, the one person keeping him relevant with New York society.

Almost immediately after walking out on Jenny’s tour, P.T lost his circus, the very thing that saved P.T from a life of mundane and brought his family wealth, in the flames of hatred and unrest of ignorant protesters.

He also nearly lost his marriage, his soulmate, the one person who stuck with him back when he was poor and invisible to society. The one person who blindly trusted him and whose trust he betrayed in the blindness of his ambitions to obtain more wealth and acceptance from people who didn’t deserve P.T’s loyalty.

If that wasn’t enough, P.T nearly lost his “overcompensated apprentice”, a young man who gave up everything for the opportunity to follow PT’s crazy dreams; a young man who quickly became more than just an apprentice.

P.T might not had realized it at the time, but Phillip cared deeply for the world that P.T created, and Phillip looked up to P.T like a younger brother would look up to his older brother.

P.T took Phillip’s loyalty for granted, only realizing it as P.T carried Phillip’s lifeless body out of the burning inferno of his once beloved circus.

Phillip was willing to give up his life for the people he cared for, for the people who truly mattered in his life. Phillip did what P.T should had been doing this whole time, looking out for his circus troop, a group of misfits who took a chance and trusted P.T and his crazy idea and whose dedicated work made P.T’s show a success.

P.T realized it should had been him in Phillip’s place, helping his circus troop out of the burning building and doing a head count making sure everyone was safe and accounted for.

Had P.T been there to help Phillip, maybe his building would still be standing, and Phillip wouldn’t had been hurt. P.T had been so blinded by his obsession with being accepted by high society that he literally left the people who mattered most in his life behind, taking for granted that they would always be there when he returned

The fire changed Phillip in a completely different way. Long gone was the high-class boy who wrote plays because that was the only acceptable way to express any creativity in his world.

Gone was the boy who felt no true enjoyment in his life, who felt trapped in the fakeness of high-class society.

Phillip’s life lacked any true meaningfulness until that one fateful evening when P.T first approached him.

It was after one of Phillip’s plays. Phillip was hiding outside, trying to avoid the crowds who attended his play. Phillip didn’t know how much longer he could continue this boring, tedious life.

Suddenly a strange man came bounding up to him. Phillip ignored him, assuming it was some guest who wanted to express their displeasure of his show, but when the man introduced himself as P.T Barnum Phillip quickly snapped out of his stupor.

This was a man that Phillip secretly admired, although he would never admit it, not at that stage of his life. Phillip had heard about P.T’s show and was truly impressed with what this man had created.

When P.T offered Phillip the change to work for him, Phillip desperately wanted to say yes, but he knew that his family, that society, would never accept that. He brushed off the offer a few times that night but P.T wouldn’t accept no for an answer.

In truth Phillip suspected that P.T could see right through his facade, and after quite a few drinks Phillip could no longer keep lying to himself. Damn the consequences, Phillip wanted to be a part of the crazy world P.T had created.

The circus opened Phillip’s eyes to a new world, the real world, a world full of endless wonder and possibilities that he never could had imagined living behind the thick walls of upper-class society.

This word was unpolished, gritty, and definitely beneath his station, but this world made Phillip feel alive for the first time in his life.

The circus also introduced him to the love of his life; a living angel who gracefully flew into his life, stealing his breath as he stared into her eyes as he watched her majestically soar through the air.

It wasn’t just her physical beauty that Phillip was in awe of, it was her sharp wit and intelligence that she exuded during their first exchange of words.

There was something in the way she looked at Phillip and the tone she took with him that told Phillip that this woman was unlike any woman he had met before.

When Phillip first locked eyes with Anne Wheeler his whole world changed, but no matter how badly Phillip wanted to embrace this new life Phillip’s high-class behaviors didn’t disappear overnight.

Phillip was born and raised in one of New York’s most prestigious families and it would take some time for Phillip to break through the shell of properness, fake kindness and fear of being looked down on by others in that society.

It was this shell that kept him from truly feeling accepted by the circus troop and why, on more than one occasion, he let society dictate his actions, which nearly cost Phillip the woman he loved and respected.

On the night of the fire Phillip finally took a stand, damn society’s expectations of him, and fought for this new life he chose for himself.

Finally, Phillip had true meaning in his life, people he was willing to stand up for, a life and a love he was willing to risk his own life to hang onto.

During the fight that began when Phillip tried (unsuccessfully) to chase out some ignorant protesters who lingered after the show Phillip noticed the first signs of trouble in the form of dark smoke that seemed to appear out of nowhere.

Everyone switched gears from fighting to fleeing. The fire had quickly spread and by the time Phillip got his bearings the fire was raging all around them.

Phillip instantly took charge, ordering every performer out of the burning building. Phillip did his best to do a mental head count as the performers, his family, escaped the fire.

Phillip made sure he was the last to leave, helping one of the performers, Lettie Lutz or the Bearded Lady as audiences knew her as, out of the building.

Lettie had been one of the few performers to fully accept Phillip and see past his shell of properness. Lettie was the unofficial circus mom who was always looking out for everyone, and that including Phillip.

In that moment, Phillip didn’t worry about his own life or well-being, just those of the people he had grown to love. And when Phillip saw that Anne, his beautiful Anne, was not waiting outside with the rest of the troop, Phillip’s heart sank.

Without thinking, Phillip ran back and straight into the fully engulfed building, ignoring the shouts for him to come back.

He didn’t fully process their shouts anyway. Once he thought of Anne trapped in that inferno time slowed. He didn’t hear, he didn’t think, all he felt was this sickening dread that the woman he loved was trapped, possibly dying, and his one and only though was to find her, no matter the cost.

Phillip’s actions nearly cost him his own life that night, as the thick smoke and searing heat quickly overwhelmed him, but he never once thought of retreating until he had Anne in his arms.

Thinking back on that whole night, Phillip wasn’t sure if he had anything in his life (before joining the circus) that he would had so willingly risked his life to protect.

The circus had, indeed, brought true meaning to Phillip’s life and it brought people into his life that he was willing to lay his life down to protect.

Phillip would never regret the night he met P.T Barnum, where he agreed to leave his old life behind in exchanged for this crazy, unpredictable, completely fulfilling new life.  
~~~

Phillip pulled himself from the past and refocused on the crowd of cheering fans. The performers took their places in the center ring to take their final bows, during which Anne made her way to Phillips side so they could take hands and bow together.

Phillip looked into Anne’s eyes, smiled and snuck in a small kiss on her hand before the whole troop bowed together.

Phillip thought back fondly at the first performance the circus held after the fire. Emotions were at an all-time high as everyone realized how extremely lucky they all were to have a second chance at this life.

The show somehow survived all the controversy and was even more successful than before.  
~~~

When P.T tossed Phillip his cane towards the end of the show, it was like a switch turned on. Whatever shred of his old life Phillip was holding onto was gone, replaced by this rush of enthusiasm and excitement knowing that the show was his.

Phillip, fueled with the raw emotion of all the events leading up to that moment, decided he would never again suppress his true feelings.

He ran into the center ring and joined his friends, no…scratch that…. his family for the closing act.

At the end he took Ann’s hand, gracefully dipped her down and passionately kissed her, completely lost in the moment.

In that moment it didn’t matter who saw them or what people would say. Phillip didn’t kiss Anne to make a statement, he simply refused to pass up any opportunity to show Anne how much she truly meant to him.

Since that night Phillip always made a point to kiss Anne at the end of every performance, all be it not as dramatically as the first kiss they shared on stage.  
~~~

With their latest show over, Phillip and the performers took their usual places around the tent to thank the audience for attending and to allow the guests to come up and talk to their favorite performers.

Most of the time it was the children who would run up to their favorite performer, parents in tow, and ask the performers all the questions their curious child-like minds came up with.

The performers loved this part of the night. Not only did it help boost their self-confidence, it was their time to really connect with the community and show people that, despite their physical appearance, they were no different than any of the guests in attendance.

If they could reach these children and show them that it’s ok to be different, maybe future generations would be more accepting of people no matter their appearance.

Lettie loved talking to the guests. She was probably the most talkative of the troop next to Charles, who never really had any problem talking to people (no matter how inappropriate some of his comments could be).

Gone was the girl who needed to hide in the shadows, the girl who never dreamed she would ever be accepted by anyone, let alone crowds of hundreds who paid money to see her perform. Sure, Lettie knew a portion of the audience paid just to gawk at her physical appearance, but that no longer bothered her.

She was finally comfortable in her own skin, and the happiness she felt once she accepted herself was unlike anything she ever dreamed she could feel.

Even W.D Wheeler, a trapeze performer and older brother to Anne, was warming up to the crowds, taking the chance to talk to any child who came up and asked a million questions about how he could possibly fly through the air like he did.

W.D was still guarded around people he didn’t know, but even W.D couldn’t resist the innocence of the children, who were still untainted by the world they lived in and didn’t look down at W.D just for the color of his skin.

Phillip, like always, was posted by the main exit, wishing everyone a good evening and making sure to invite them back for another show.

 Phillip was so engrossed in his farewells and small chats with excited children and their parents that he failed to notice that a few guests were lingering off to the side, not showing same happiness and excitement that the rest of the crowd was displaying.

The men, however, did not go unnoticed by W.D. Sure W.D’s personality had warmed up since he first joined the circus, but he still held a cautious eye to those around him, something a lifetime of abuse and discrimination instilled in him and something he was not likely to ever fully let go.

W.D first noticed the group of men once the crowds started to thin out. He didn’t like the way they were off to the side, talking amongst themselves and glancing frequently towards Phillip and Anne.

The look in their eyes and their body language told W.D all he needed to know; that these people didn’t like what Phillip was doing and didn’t approve of Anne (and probably all the performers) at all.

The circus had helped bridge the community together with their unapologetic showing of diversity, but small protests still popped up every so often.

Racism and bigotry were still strong in the world and one would have to be naïve to assume that it would disappear simply because the circus was successful.

W.D kept a careful eye on the men as they slowly exited the tent, seemingly passing by Phillip unnoticed. W.D made a mental note to keep an eye out for those men in the future.

Once all the guests were gone the troop, led by Phillip, made their way out of the back of the tent to their individual caravans that were set up behind the show tent.

 This was where the performers lived and, despite appearances, the caravans were very cozy, and everyone made them up to fit their style.

It was like their own little city, away from the craziness of New York, where they could enjoy their life and be unbothered.

Just like at the end of every week the performers would all get together and throw a post-show party that included a lot of laughs, a lot of pranks, and a LOT of drinking. There was a lot of adrenalin pumping through their bodies after the conclusion of their final show of the week and this was one of the ways they could burn through it.

On the nights P.T would take in the show with his family the party would be especially crazy. P.T couldn’t resist the urge to celebrate with his performers and P.T’s celebrations were as big as his personality.

P.T was not there that night, so the performers settled in and around Lettie’s caravan where they drank, laughed and eventually passed out.

Phillip would always hang around for the first part of the night but would make his retreat back to his caravan with Anne so they could enjoy some much-needed alone time. Phillip had an apartment just a few blocks from the circus, but he spent most of his time living at the circus.

Anne had her own tent too, but she often stayed with Phillip. Anne finally felt like she was free to love Phillip without the prying eyes of the public.

In truth, Anne had the same epiphany that Phillip did the night of the fire. Seeing Philip being carried out by P.T, unconscious, burned, and barely hanging onto life because he had run into a burning building to save her shook Anne to her core. How stupid she had been to turn down Phillip when she loved him just as much as he loved her.  
~~~  
  
Back then Anne convinced herself she was turning Phillip down to protect him, but the truth was she was scared. She feared the looks they would get and scared of the comments they would hear.

More so, she was scared that Phillip would grow to resent her because of how society would treat _him_ , but she was wrong. Phillip literally risked his own life for Anne’s because he loved her, because in that moment he thought Anne was in danger. If Anne needed proof that Phillip didn’t care about the risks that would come with being with her, that was it.

Phillip loved her and when Anne stared at his charred features in the hospital, unsure if she would ever see those beautiful blue eyes again, she knew she loved him.

The pain she felt deep in her soul of not knowing if she would ever be able to tell Phillip how much she loved him stole her breath.

She swore right then and there that if Phillip opened his eyes she would never again turn him away because of her own fears of what others might say or do.

 When she finally allowed herself to fully love Phillip without fear and allow Phillip to show his love for her, she felt a weight she didn’t know she was carrying lifted off her. Finally, she felt free.  
~~~

The night continued as it usually did and eventually everyone was either asleep in their own tents or passed out from too much celebrating. No one knew then that their lives would once again be turned upside down, and the realities of the world would come crashing down on their lives and test their faith that humanity could change for the better.


	2. A Million Dreams

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> During this chapter we check in with the Barnums and see how they are doing since the fire. This is basically my idea of how P.T and Charity’s lives have changed since P.T stepped down from Ring Leader

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn’t feel that I set up P.T or Charity’s characters enough in the first chapter, so I am still going into some back story and how I see the Barnum’s doing since P.T handed over the show to Phillip. I promise this will be the last major “flashback” chapter I will write. I have chapter three all outlined out and it soley focuses on this story’s present time.

P.T Barnum cracked his eyes and immediately saw 2 pairs of eyes staring back at him from the side of his bed. P.T smiled inwardly, knowing those eyes belonged to his daughters, Caroline and Helen. The girls, no doubt, were plotting some crazy way of waking their parents up, but P.T had the upper hand this time.

P.T pretended to sleep, keeping his eyes cracked open just enough so they appeared closed, but he could still see the shapes of his mischievous girls.

Once his unsuspecting daughters got close enough P.T shot up and quickly swooped them both up in his arms, dragging them into bed.

The girls, both stunned and startled by their father’s sudden actions, laughed wildly as they were tossed between their father and mother.

Charity Barnum, who was more than use to these kinds of mornings by now, simply rolled over so she could watch her husband and daughter’s crazy morning antics.

A warm smile grew on Charity’s face as she reflected on how happy her family was. It wasn’t that long ago that Charity questioned if their family would ever be truly happy.

There was no doubt the quality of their lives had dramatically improved once the circus became successful, but Charity wasn’t sure if the cost was worth it.  
~~~

This “better life” was costing her children precious time with their father, a man they looked up too and idolized, but seldom saw anymore because P.T was so wrapped up in work.

This new life also trapped their daughters between two worlds, between being raised poor and quickly coming into “new money” as the New York elite would say.

Sure, the girls had every material possession they could possibly dream of, but they were clearly not welcomed by their high class peers, nor did their behavior reflect a high class upbringing.

Caroline and Helen were the happiest when they could be free to run around and laugh, but now they were forced to mute that enthusiasm and replace it with properness and restraint.

Their new life was also costing Charity’s husband his sanity, as P.T became more and more obsessed with constantly upping the bar of what he wanted in life.

Charity thought that, once the circus became successful, P.T would finally be happy and content with his life, but the nagging needs to not only be part of, but fully accepted by, New York’s most elite of society only drove P.T harder and harder to create new shows that only catered to New York’s finest.

The man she fell in love with so many years ago was slowly disappearing, replaced by a man who was obsessed with obtaining a lifestyle that Charity had fought so hard to escape from. It seemed that Charity’s wish, the wish for her family to be happy, was slipping away.

Thankfully, all of that changed. Unfortunately, it took P.T nearly losing everything for him to finally open his eyes to what really mattered in life, but he finally came to his senses and Charity couldn’t be happier for it.

She hated the events that helped snap her husband out of his madness, but when the smoke finally died down and everyone was ok the Barnum’s were able to rebuild their life, the life they had always dreamt of having.

The circus has been rebuilt, thanks in no small part to Phillip, who had thankfully recovered from his near-death experience, and P.T finally decided that owning a wildly successful show was more than enough to make him happy.

P.T gladly handed the Ring Master position over to Phillip during the opening night of the re-imagined circus, which was a huge step for a man who did not like giving control of his life over to anyone.

Things were different now, and P.T was more than happy to leave his circus in the caring hands of his newest partner, leaving P.T with all the freedom he needed in order to make up for all the lost time he sacrificed with his family.

Charity could see that a huge weight had been lifted off P.T shoulders the minute he showed up to the girl’s recital on the back of one of the circus elephants. That moment would be one that Charity would never forget.   
~~~

Charity was now staring at the man she originally fell in love with, a man who loved his life and loved being with his children and with her, and who was not stressing (too much) over his business. This moment symbolized everything Charity had ever wished for.

Once the morning antics were over, the Barnum’s got ready for the day. During breakfast, while P.T was enjoying a cup of coffee, Charity realized something.

“When was the last time you checked in at the circus?” she asked P.T.

P.T glanced up from the paper to answer but had to pause.

_When was the last time he stopped by the circus?_

It had certainly been a couple weeks at least. Charity laughed at her husband’s sudden loss of words.

“It’s been a few weeks at the least hasn’t it?” Barnum finally replied.

Charity would be lying to herself if she said she wasn’t secretly happy that P.T hadn’t given the circus a whole lot of thought lately, but she also would be lying if she said she didn’t care deeply for her circus family and missed watching her husband take center stage during the shows.

“Maybe it’s time we take in a show.” Charity suggested as she was cleaning up. “Phillip mentioned working on a new show for this week and it would mean a lot to him for you to go and support them.”

P.T nodded in agreement.

“I know the girls want to see everyone again. You know how much they love seeing them all, especially Phillip. I overheard them talking just the other day about how much they miss going to the circus” Charity continued.

Truth be told, Charity never needed to convince her husband to visit the circus, he was always more than happy to stop by to say hi and see how everything was going.

P.T might not be the ring master anymore, but he still owned 50% of the show, and even though his role in the circus wasn’t as involved, he still was very much invested in the success of the show and making sure everyone there had everything they needed.

P.T considered the date and quickly figured out when the new show would open.

“Opening night for the new act is only a couple days away, why don’t we go then. I am long overdue to personally check in with Phillip anyway.”

The girls, who had eavesdropped on part of the conversation, ran into the kitchen excitedly and jumped into their dad’s arms.

“Are we going back to the circus?!” Helen asked enthusiastically. “Can we go today?”

“Please daddy, can we go see uncle Phillip and everyone today?” asked Caroline.

“We will go in a couple days, we promise” Charity answered.

The girls moaned about wanting to go right away, but P.T assured them that they would have more fun if they surprised Phillip and everyone on their next opening night. Content with the promise that they would only have to wait a couple days, the girls went back to their rooms to play.

Seeing her girl’s excitement warmed Charity’s heart. “We need to make more of an effort to visit the circus more frequently. I forget how much the girls miss going and seeing everyone.”

P.T nodded in agreement.

 “I think we need to have everyone over one night for dinner. We haven’t had everyone over at the house for a long time. I know you miss having everyone here under one roof”. P.T gave a sly, mischievous smile to Charity.

Charity rolled her eyes and smirked. Having the whole circus troop over to their home was always chaotic. No doubt there would be drinking, and a lot of inappropriate conversations, but Charity would be lying to herself if she didn’t secretly love the chaos. Sure the troop didn’t act proper, but that is what made their visits so much fun.

Charity loved entertaining them and loved listening to the wild stores everyone would share. She loved listening to Charles say wildly inappropriate things and then act shocked when everyone started at him like he had three heads.

She missed hanging out with Lettie, someone Charity grew quite close to. Lettie was a little...unpolished...but Lettie was also a deeply caring individual and was quite a pleasure to talk to.

Charity also missed seeing Phillip, the young man who she fully credits for saving the circus (and her family) from the ashes of financial ruin.

In the time that they have known Phillip, he had become part of their family. Helen and Caroline adored Phillip and Phillip never missed an opportunity to spoil both girls with small gifts and candy.

P.T and Phillip had developed a brotherly relationship, with P.T taking on the older, protective brother role. P.T didn’t have siblings, or any family outside Charity and the girls, so it was no surprised that P.T had grown quite close to Phillip.

Phillip was the only other person, outside Charity, that P.T fully trusted. Sure, when P.T had first met Phillip P.T only saw the Carlyle name and how having a person like Phillip could help increase his station in society, but Charity soon saw a shift from a strict business relationship to something more.

Charity knew P.T was grooming Phillip to take over the circus once P.T decided to step back from it but back then it was just a matter of _if_ P.T would ever step away.

 Charity could also see how much Phillip secretly looked up to P.T for how unapologetic P.T was when it came to creating his show and for his enthusiasm for life.

P.T, in return, started seeing Phillip as a young man who shared the same passion for his show that P.T only thought he could have.

It became clear to P.T that Phillip was ‘all in’ when he decided to join the circus, and even though P.T lost himself for a while, the trust he had for Phillip was always there.

Once again, it was the fire that sealed that relationship. Once P.T arrived at the circus and saw the building completely engulfed in flames he started to panic. The first person P.T sought out was Phillip, knowing that Phillip would had make sure everyone had gotten out.

Charity remembered, hearing through the crowd, how panicked P.T sounded when he asked/shouted at Phillip, asking him if everyone was out. She also remembers her husband’s panic cries when Phillip, apparently not seeing Anne, charged right back into the burning building.

Charity had just broken through the crowd with her daughters when she saw a glimpse of Phillip before he disappeared into the smoke, and saw her husband holding back a very panicked W.D.

P.T was shouting for Phillip when Charity finally reached him, and the look that he exchanged with her made Charity’s heart sink. She knew that look that P.T gave her. There was no way P.T wasn’t going to try to save his friend.

All Charity could do was look on in horror as her husband charged in after Phillip. Part of her cried out, not wanting him to go in, but the other part of her knew why he had to.

In the time that Charity knew Phillip, she also became very close to him. Phillip often filled in for P.T when P.T was too preoccupied with the circus or with Jenny Lind.

Most times Phillip made sure they had an escort to town and made sure they had everything they needed at the home. Other times Phillip stopped by simply to check in on them and to spend some quality time with Helen and Caroline.

Oh how the girls loved when Phillip stopped by. There was no doubt the girls saw Phillip as their older brother.

Charity, for her part, couldn’t help but feel and act motherly towards Phillip. Maybe it was because she knew the Carlyle’s and knew how cold Phillip’s parents were.

It was no small miracle that Phillip turned into the respectable, warm, kind man he was today, considering the Carlyle’s reputation for maintaining propriety and being very old school in their upbringing.

They were old money, just like Charity’s parents, but somehow both Phillip and Charity managed to break free from the mold of their family names and live lives they truly loved.

Maybe that was it, maybe Charity saw a lot of herself in Phillip and understood the sacrifice Phillip made when he shook hands with her husband. Charity couldn’t think of anyone else who shared the same desire to escape New York society and follow their heart other than Phillip.

Charity’s heart sank when she thought back to when she saw her husband carrying Phillip out of the fire. Phillip looked so lifeless, so vulnerable, so young. She held her breath as P.T checked for a pulse, only releasing her breath when P.T said Phillip was still breathing. What a mess that whole week was.

Charity broke away from her thoughts, not wanting to relive all the heartache she felt during that time.

Things were better now; her family was finally together and happy, the circus was a huge success, and Phillip and Anne finally got past their own issues and were happily dating. Charity finished clearing the table, excited to finally see her circus family in a couple days.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you made it to the end thank you so much for taking time to read my first fanfic. As always I welcome any constructive criticism, or even parts of my story you enjoy, because I plan on continuing go write stories after this one is over. Let me know if this chapter seems disjointed or rushed...I swear I have too many ideas that come flooding out as I type and I worry that I don’t proof read enough. I hope to have chapter 3 up sometime tomorrow.


	3. But there are mountains...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We head back to the circus where Phillip and the troop are preparing for the opening of their newest show. Anne tries to steal some alone time with Phillip, but a surprise guest appears without warning. There are also whispers of something sinister in the air, waiting to spring a deadly trap on one of our beloved characters.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok so I didn’t plan on releasing two chapters today, but I had the free time and I had the drive to continue writing. As always please feel free to leave any constructive criticism you have (and anything positive you might like). I will probably read over the first three chapters again and edit anything I feel I rushed through or correct any mistakes I might have missed.  
> Please enjoy!

A few days had passed, and the circus troop was running through their final rehearsals before the show’s start later that evening.

Each group of performers were busy ironing out the final details of their specific acts. Anne and W.D were running through their portion of the show, making sure they had their timing down perfectly.

Anne was especially proud of this new trapeze routine her and her brother came up with. No matter what the theme of the shows were, Anne and W.D had full creative freedom to create their own act, mostly because Barnum and Phillip had no idea how to choreograph a trapeze act.

Anne always felt this sense of freedom when she was soaring through the air. The sense of peace and calmness she felt could only be achieved when she was sitting in the rafters, seconds before she would swing out from her perch.

In order to perform her aerial stunts Anne had to clear her head completely of any thoughts that might be troubling her and solely focus on the timing her moves.

Most people told Anne she had to be crazy to fly through the air like she did, and how the mere idea of it all terrified most onlookers, but for Anne there was nothing scary about what she did. For Anne, the trapeze was her sanctuary.

Of course, that wasn’t the only place she felt safe lately. Ever since Anne let go of her fears and insecurities and allowed herself to form a relationship with Phillip, she felt a sense of comfort and safety she never thought she could feel.

Sure she had always felt safe when W.D was with her, but W.D was her brother, and as close as the two of them were, being with Phillip opened Anne up to a whole new level of emotional support, support she never thought she would have the luxury of feeling considering most of society saw her as a second-class citizen at best.

All Phillip had to do whenever Anne felt overwhelmed, nervous, or scared, was look into her eyes, take her hand, and give her that reassuring look that made her heart skip a beat. Those small acts reassured her that she was not alone anymore and that he would be there to love and protect her.

Anne remember the first time Phillip took her hand in public, it was at the Jenny Lind concert. Anne felt Phillip’s fingers brush hers, causing Anne’s heart to race.

Then Phillip took her hand, and Anne’s heart skipped a beat. A small smile grew on her face and she held her head up a little higher, the flood of emotions she had secretly felt for Phillip threatening to spill out of her.

Of course, this was before Phillip had fully abandoned his old life, and a glance from Phillip’s parents caused Phillip to drop Anne’s hand. Anne’s heart shattered that day, and any sense of hope she had of her and Phillip being together shattered with it.

Even after Phillip apologized and completely opened up to her, Anne knew they could never last as a couple. Needless to say, things had changed dramatically since then, and now whenever Phillip takes her hand Anne knows he will never let go again.

Anne felt her self-confidence slowly grow the longer she was with Phillip. Even if people gawked and whispered when Phillip and Anne walked by, Phillip always knew what to do.

Phillip was very intelligent, and his intelligence was paired with a sharp wit which made it easy for him to shut down anyone who dared look down at or spoke ill of Anne.

It didn’t take much to shut most people up, usually a slightly passive aggressive comment directed at the guilty party would leave them speechless and, at the same time, get Anne to giggle.

Phillip truly didn’t care what people thought of him, and Anne hoped she could gain that level of confidence one day.

Realistically Anne knew she would never achieve the level of confidence that Phillip had. Phillip was born into high society, and no matter what life he chose to live now, he never experienced the level of hatred that Anne had experienced all her life.

Those kinds of emotional wounds never fully heal, but being with Phillip was lessening the pain. Anne had even gotten to the point where she would keep her head up, instead of looking at the ground, whenever she and Phillip were in public. It wasn’t much, but for Anne that was a big step forward.

As practice ended Anne saw Phillip dashing around the tent, making sure all the props and ropes were in their right place and herding the performers to their caravans to get ready for the show.

Anne smirked to herself as she watched Phillip anxiously go through all his final checks, still amazed that the Ring Master continued to showed signs of anxiety even though he has been the official Ring Master for just over 6 months.

Phillip so rarely showed any weakness around her, so to see him still get nervous before a show was a little endearing.

Anne hid just out of Phillip’s sight and watched him as he buzzed around the tent. It was clear his enthusiasm for the show hadn’t died down in the slightest, and Phillip was just as invested as he ever was in making sure the show went off without a hitch.

Phillip headed towards Anne, not knowing she was just out of sight. As Phillip rushed past her Anne reached out and grabbed the startled ring master by his arm and dragged him off to the corner of the tent, out of sight from the rest of the workers.

Before Phillip knew it he back was to the tent and Anne was standing in front of him, with that look in her eyes, like she was up to no good.

“You should pay more attention to your surroundings Ring Master” Anne playfully mocked, taking in Phillip’s shocked expression.

She smirked at him and Phillip couldn’t help but let out a nervous laugh.

“Shouldn’t you be getting ready for the show?” Phillip stammered, pretending to ignore the fact that Anne looked absolutely stunning in that moment.

Phillip couldn’t help but love the way she would look him up and down before giving him a knowing look, with so much sass and confidence.

“The show doesn’t start for another hour and a half.” She paused and stared into Phillip’s beautiful blues eyes, a smirk forming on her lips before continuing.

“You really need to relax before you make yourself crazy”. Anne continued and she ran her hand through Phillip’s hair, causing Phillip to close his eyes for just a second and enjoy the physical contact.

As he opened his eyes he grabbed her by the waist, causing Anne to giggle like a love-struck school girl. “Well, if you insist I relax, I guess we could always head back to your place and relax together”.

Phillip drew Anne closer to his body as he spoke, his voice deep and hushed in a way that always caused Anne’s body to tingle. Anne was just about to take Phillip up on his offer when they suddenly heard a lot of commotion coming from outside the back of the tent.

Anne and Phillip looked at each other before turning their attention to the sudden ruckus going on outside. They heard multiple performers let out a warm greeting followed by greetings from...P.T Barnum?

Phillip looked back at Anne, a surprised look on his face. Once the realization that Phillip’s business partner was waiting outside the tent Phillip’s expression changed to what Anne could only describe as part sad puppy/part mischievous teenager.

It was as if Phillip was trying to say, _‘we can still get that alone time if you want’_ , but Anne only smirked and kissed Phillip on the forehead.

“Come on _Ring Master_ , your presence is needed elsewhere”.

_‘So much for alone time’_  Phillip thought.

The two headed out the back of the tent and quickly saw where the commotion was coming from. Phillip and Anne walked up behind P.T and Phillip clapped his hand on the taller man’s shoulder.

P.T whipped around to see that Phillip and Anne had arrived.

Phillip stood there, arms crossed and giving the older man a fake, annoyed ‘ _can I help you_ ’ look.

“There he is!” P.T shouted as he grasped Phillips hand and shook it firmly. “I came to make sure you haven’t run my show into the ground”.

The obviousness of P.T’s sarcasm made Phillip drop his faux-annoyed expression and replace it with a smirk that let P.T know that he succeeded in relaxing his former apprentice.

“The last I checked, you were the one running the show when our old building burned down” Phillip shot back. Now it was Phillip’s turn to poke at P.T.

Phillip made a point not to allow the events of the fire to haunt him, so he took every appropriate opportunity to joke about it, mostly at P.T’s expense.

Phillip did this as much for himself as he did for P.T because he knew that the older man still held onto some guilt from that faithful night. Phillip made sure to purposely make light of the event to let P.T know that there were no hard feelings between them.

Phillip’s verbal jab did the trick.

“The last I checked, _you_ were the one I put in charge that night” P.T said with a slightly cautious smile. P

P.T knew the game Phillip was playing, but it was still hard for P.T to make a joke about the fire knowing that it was Phillip that was affected the most.

“Psh, details, details,” Phillip quipped back, waving his hand towards PT and gaining a laugh from just about everyone around them.

“Bottom line is that since I’ve been official Ring Master, the shows have gone off without a hitch”.

 

P.T couldn’t argue his logic, and just threw his hands up in a _‘you win’_ gesture.

With their verbal jousting over, the two men laughed and embraced each other in a hug. Suddenly Phillip found himself being sandwiched between Caroline and Helen, as the two girls ran up on either side of Phillip and giving him a huge hug.

Phillip knelt down and gave the girls a hug back. Anne heart melted watching Phillip interact with the Barnum girls. What a wonderful father Phillip would make.

The thought both warmed Anne’s heart, and at the same time terrified her. Could they ever dream of having children? What life would she be condemning her own children to? A mix of two worlds, never truly belonging to either.

Charity suddenly appeared next to Anne, shaking her from her thoughts. The two women embraced each other and exchanged pleasantries and then turned back to watch the antics of their significant others.

The two women might lead wildly different lives, but the one thing they could bond over was how similarly crazy their partners were and how neither of the men seemed to have matured in the slightest over the last year and a half.

As Phillip and P.T talked, a deep voice cut through the crowd.   
“Well, well, look who finally decided to grace us with his presence.”

Everyone turned around to see Charles standing behind P.T, an obvious fake stern look shadowing his face.

“Well, I couldn’t let you go too long without seeing my beautiful face” P.T shot back, and Charles let out a laugh and shook P.T’s hand.

Lettie, who had also made her way outside, didn’t skip a beat.

“You’re so full of it Barnum, we all know that my face is the most beautiful here”.

P.T turned to hug Lettie, “And don’t let anyone tell you any different” P.T replied back, winking at Lettie and earning a genuine smile from the singer.

With all the greetings out of the way, it was time to get ready for the show. The Barnum’s took their place in center section of the seating area.

P.T always made a point to sit in the very back row of the bleachers. P.T never wanted to draw attention to himself while taking in a show. This was Phillip’s show now and he wanted to make sure Phillip had the audience’s full attention.

Behind the ring, the performers were dressed and ready to make their grand entrance. Phillip was off to the side, nervously attempting to straighten out his Ring Master jacket.

 A gentle hand touched his shoulder and he turned around to see Anne standing there, dressed in a beautiful yellow costume that made her natural beauty shine even brighter. Anne took Phillip’s jacket in her hands and calmly smoothed it out and straighten it up.

“Don’t be so nervous.” Anne whispered so the others couldn’t hear. “Barnum would never had handed the show over to you if he wasn’t one hundred percent confident that you would take it and make it better.”

Phillip only seemed to partially pay attention to Anne as he shook out his hands nervously. Anne then cradled Phillip’s face with her hand and gently moved his face so he would look at her. She raised her eyebrows at him, her soft, yet confident expression snapping Phillip out of his nerves.

“I know” Phillip finally said. “I don’t know why I’m so nervous tonight. It’s not like the Barnum’s haven’t been to the show before.”

It was at this point that O’Malley’s voice could be heard instructing everyone to take their seats. As the music started to boom through the tent Constantine came up to Phillip.

“Hey man, it’s time to go”. Nodding his head towards the tent entrance.

Anne took Phillips hand and brought it up to her lips, kissing it gently.

“Go get ‘em Ring Master” she said slyly.

Phillip smile grew as he looked into her eyes one final time before turning to lead the troop into the ring.

After the remaining performers made their way into the ring, a handful of men peered around the back of the tent.

“This is where all them freaks live?” one man spat in disgust as they looked at the sea of tents set up behind the show tent.

“Yep, and that Barnum guy is here too. I saw him back here just a bit ago” another man commented.

“Hey James, maybe we shouldn’t do this tonight” a third man said, his nerves getting the better of him. “That Barnum fool will be back here with his band of freaks after their pathetic show is over. The time just ain’t right”

“No!” the fourth man yelled before composing himself. “We do this tonight!”

The fourth man, James, who was considerably taller than the others and clearly the leader of the group continued.

“I’m sick and tired of that race traitor Carlyle parading around town with that colored woman. It just ain’t right. He thinks he’s untouchable because he’s a Carlyle. We’ll show him tonight. His name ain’t nothin’ anymore. Everyone knows his family disowned him for bein’ with that colored whore. He’s got nothin’ but his smart words to fall back on. No, this ends tonight! If we take Carlyle out, we not only send a message to him and Barnum, we send a message to the whole lot of them freaks who dare to parade so brashly in this disgusting show of theirs.”

“It just ain’t right what they’re doing” a fifth and final man said. “Did you see that fat woman with the beard? She should be locked up for how offensive she looks”.

“They all should be locked up” the James said. “What they’re doin’ is sending the wrong sort of message to our children. Who’s going to protect them from these freaks if our city allows them to parade around town like it’s normal. For now it’s just the show, but these freaks have been coming into our town more and more, brainwashing anyone that they come in contact with. We end this tonight.”

“What do we do if Carlyle isn’t alone?” the third man asked. This man seemed to be the youngest of the group and clearly the most inexperienced when it came to whatever vile plan the group was about to put into action.

“Oh he’ll be alone David...eventually.” The James replied. “I’ve been stakin’ him out for the past few weeks. He normally takes off early from these freak’s caravans. At worst, that colored girl will be with him and she will be easy enough to take care of.”

The tone of his voice made David wince. It was true that these freaks needed to learn their place, but David wasn’t exactly comfortable with the suggestion that they actually hurt the woman, colored or not.

James nodded towards the docks behind them and continued, “We wait over by the docks until this freak show is over. By then it will be plenty dark for us to make our way to the caravan that the Carlyle boy stays in. That is when we make our move.”

The men all nodded in agreement. They made their way to the docks where they would wait for the show to end. James took out a bottle of moonshine and started passing it around. He didn’t want any of his men to lose their nerve when the time came.

Tonight, they would finally make things right and put that arrogant Carlyle and his band of freaks in their place.

Meanwhile, the show inside the tent was going off without a hitch. The new acts were wowing the audience and Phillip fed off their cheers and applause, his energy only increasing as the show went on.

Every so often Phillip would take a quick glance towards the back of the audience where the Barnum’s were seated. Phillip smiled, seeing that the Barnum’s were having just as much fun watching the troop perform as the troop was having performing.

The circus was Phillip’s calling. Sure, he might still be an anxious mess before shows, but once the music started and the lights switched on, Phillip switched gears completely and he became the fun-loving, energetic, confident showman that P.T always knew he could be.

Phillip’s energy seemed endless as he bounded around from one act to the other, making sure to keep the audience’s full attention as each new act took center ring.

Phillip never skipped a beat, going from hyping up the audience during each act to joining the dance troop for their musical numbers, his energy only rising as the show went on.   


As the show neared its conclusion, Phillip found himself looking forward to after the show when the whole troop would be together, Barnum’s included. It would make for a crazy night, that’s for sure, but Phillip found that he missed P.T and the crazy effect he had on everyone.

Phillip had absolutely no idea what evils were waiting for him just outside the tent.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter should get very interesting. I have less than pleasant things in store for our favorite Ring Master. Since I got two chapters out today we will see if I can get chapter 4 our tomorrow. Either way the next chapter should be out in the next day or two. I really hope you are enjoying the story so far. I am really trying to put out a quality story so any advise you might have for me would be appreciated.


	4. Follow Your Gut

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> W.D decides he needs some alone time and heads to the show tent to finish up some work, but something W.D hears puts him on guard. Is W.D just overly suspicious, or is his gut telling him that something bad is about to happen?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First off I just want to say thank you to all who have taken the time to read my story. I never imagined I would get a kuddo, let along 8, so early into the story. And over 200 hits....I couldn’t be happier.
> 
> This chapter was not planned, but my original chapter 4 didn’t fit into this part of the story. It felt rushed and choppy so I worked backwards and added this chapter as a way to segway into the next half of the story. 
> 
> I appoligize if this chapter is on the shorter end and a tad boring, but I just didn’t like the flow the story had without it.

The show had reached its conclusion. As always, the fans were on their feet, cheering and applauding a job well done.

Caroline and Helen’s shrilled cheers could be heard over the rest of the audiences, causing Phillip to look up, smile growing as he saw the two girls jumping around and cheering.

As the audience exited the tent P.T bounded down the stairs to congratulate his successor on a job well done. Indeed, the show was spectacular, but this wasn’t a surprise to P.T.

P.T had always known that Phillip had the creativity, drive, and enthusiasm to run his show, and Phillip never once disappointed him. The kid was a natural performer, much like P.T was.

“Fantastic show Phillip!” P.T said as he jogged up to Phillip and shook his hand vigorously. “I was on the edge of my seat the whole time!”

Helen and Caroline appeared followed by Charity.

“Phillip, we loved your show!!!” Helen exclaimed.

“Yes! It was so spectacular!” Caroline agreed.

The girls then turned to Anne, who was standing next to Phillip the whole time.

“Anne, you looked like an angel” Helen said, embracing Anne in a hug. “Caroline was too scared to watch you, she had her eyes the whole time.”

Caroline gave her sister a death stare. “No!!! I…. was just scared you would fall”.

“Oh sweetie” Anne said as she knelt down next to Caroline. “W.D and I practice a lot. If we don’t think we can do a trick safely, we won’t do it, but it means a lot to me that you worry about me so much.”

Anne gave Caroline a small hug, which gained her a small smile in return. Caroline might be the older and more mature Barnum daughter, but Helen was more fearless.

Once the crowds had cleared out everyone headed back to their caravans to get ready for the evening. P.T had strongly hinted that he brought over “the good stuff” which implied either Champaign or really strong whiskey (probably both).

W.D, who had already gotten out of his costume and back into his regular clothes, went back into the show tent to help reset the ropes and put away some of the props. It wasn’t like W.D to just sit around and do nothing, plus he enjoyed the peace and quiet of the empty show tent, especially now when he knew the evening was going to be anything but quiet.

W.D wasn’t a shy man, not by a long shot, and he was looking forward to the crazy antics that were guaranteed to go down later in the night, but he also enjoyed his alone time. It helped clear his mind, much in the same way flying through the air helped clear Anne’s mind, and keeping his hands busy, even if the tasks were tedious and boring, helped relax the man.

As W.D was tying up some of the ropes he thought he heard hushed voices coming from just outside the tent. Always on guard, W.D stopped what he was doing and slowly walked closer to where the voices were coming from. They seemed to be near the far side of the tent.

W.D paused near the tent’s wall and held his breath, straining to hear what the voices were saying. In hind sight he probably should had headed right for the exit and rounded the tent from the outside, but W.D was more curious about what was being said.

The voices were there, but too hushed and too far away for W.D to make out what they were saying. They sounded like men talking, but not long after W.D starting listening the voices trailed off, telling W.D that whoever was talking they had headed off and away from the tent.

W.D lingered by the tent wall a minute after the voices had left. He couldn’t shake this feeling that something wasn’t right.

W.D decided to head outside the tent and around to where he heard to voices coming from. He stood outside for a minute, scanning his surroundings, but found nothing that stood out to him.

Shaking his head, W.D returned to the tent, telling himself that a few stragglers must had hung around after the show ended and had only now left for the night. It wasn’t out of the ordinary for people to hang around the tent after a show to chat with some friends.

W.D’s thoughts suddenly brought him back to a few nights ago, when he had seen those men hanging back after the show.

The uneasiness he felt that night flooded back to him. Could the unidentified voices he just heard be from the same men?

“W.D, are you still in here?!” P.T’s voice boomed from the rear exit of the tent.

“Yeah, I’m here” W.D responded, glancing back to the side of the tent.

“Young man, you are forbidden to work tonight. Come out and enjoy yourself for once will ya!” P.T’s tone left no room to argue.

W.D shrugged off the uneasiness he felt. The whole troop would be together that night, and W.D rationalized to himself that someone would have to be insane to try anything funny with the whole group together.

“I’m pretty sure O’Malley stole a bottle of…. well whatever Pavlo calls alcohol, and hid it in Charles’s tent, at least that is what I am hearing whispered about. You don’t want to miss that powder keg when it explodes.” P.T said with that mischievous smirk of his.

W.D couldn’t hide the grin that appeared on his face. Watching Pavlo confront an unsuspecting Charles, knowing Charles has zero fear of the giant man, would be a sight to see. W.D jogged towards a waiting P.T, who clapped a welcoming hand over W.D’s shoulder, and the two turned to head back to the rest of the troop.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have the next two chapters all finished, I just need to finish edit them. It’s only 8am where I live so I fully expect the next chapter to be up sometime today, maybe even both.
> 
> As always please leave any positive or negative feedback in the comments, I only ask that you keep it respectful. I love receiving constructive criticism, but anything hurtful or unkind will make my anxiety shoot through the roof.


	5. A game of tag and an angry giant.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just a fluff chapter including a game of tag with Caroline and Helen, a sweet conversation between Anne and Charity, and a little heart to heart talk between Phillip and P.T. There might be and angry Irish Giant mixed in for fun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As I typed the story I found myself writing a bit of fluff, so I made it its own chapter. It’s probably a nice note to end on before the hurt and angst portion of the story begins.

The evening started off mild enough. Everyone seemed to migrate towards Lettie’s tent. Her tent was the center most tent in the camp, and most of the other performers had their tents set up in close proximity. 

Lettie also had the most space around her tent, making it easier to set up a few fire pits and allow the troop to sit around comfortably. 

There were random chairs set up all around, along with a few logs that had been dragged over to be used as a bench. Others chose to simply grab a blanket and sit on the ground. 

Phillip decided to grab a blanket and sit on the ground, opening up a chair for someone else. Anne showed up a few minutes later, taking a seat right next to Phillip. 

They sat shoulder to shoulder near the fire, fingers interlaced with each other, enjoying the conversations that were going on around them. The Barnum girls were the center of attention at the moment. This was their time to act as silly as they wanted without the judgmental eyes of society looking back at them. 

They were running around, doing cartwheels and reenacting their favorite parts of the show. Somehow, the girls got a game of tag going with Lettie, P.T, Phillip, W.D, and Constantine (surprisingly). 

Anne watched as the group ran around an open part of the camp, laughing at how silly it all looked. Constantine was by far the fastest, but he always seemed to just miss a tag on one of the girls. What better people to play a game of tag with then a bunch of circus performers. 

Charity took a seat next to Anne. For a moment the two simply watched the crazy game of tag, laughing at how Constantine would leap towards the girls to get a tag, only to miss and roll onto the ground dramatically. Caroline and Helen would laugh wildly as they scattered away from Constantine and watch his gracefully ungraceful tumbles to the ground. 

“The girls seem to be really enjoying themselves out there” Anne said. 

Charity smiled. “They are. They use to love coming to the circus every day; running around and playing with everyone. I think it reminds them of the time we use to live in this tiny apartment in the city, and they use to run around on the rooftop. Up there they were free to run around and play whatever silly game they wanted to.”

Charity paused as she watched her husband trying desperately to get a tag on Constantine, but was failing miserably.

“Once the circus was up and running, the girls couldn’t stay away. It was like their own private rooftop, only with more things to climb on and people to play with.”

“We love having the girls around” Anne commented. “They make us feel….normal.”

Charity’s expression saddened at the comment. “Sweetie you are normal. Everyone here is normal.”

“I know” Anne continued. “But the world doesn’t seem to think so, and it got a little lonely living behind the walls of the circus. But when the girls would show up, it was like the whole building came to life. They never once cared about what we looked like, or if we were upper or lower class citizens.” 

Anne paused for a second to laugh at the sight of her husband tripping over…his own feet maybe, and landing face first into the dirt. 

“Everyone’s moods would be lifted the second they heard those two running into the building because we knew they were genuinely excited to see us. It wasn’t because of what we looked like or what tricks we could perform, but because they truly cared about us. Back then, the only person I could honestly say cared about me was W.D. Those girls, they are special, and they quickly won over all of our hearts and taught us that maybe the world wasn’t so hateful after all.” 

Charity watched her girls play as Anne spoke, her heart about ready to burst. Charity had always known her girls were special, that they were better people than she could ever dream to be, but to hear it come from someone else, someone who has only seen the ugly side of humanity all her life, it made her feel extremely proud of her girls.

“Thank you for that” Charity said. “I don’t know how P.T and I got so lucky to have those two. I just pray that the world doesn’t kill their kind spirits”. 

“Oh I don’t think you or P.T would ever allow that.” Anne said. “You’re not exactly raising them to look down on others.”

By this point the game of tag had ended and the girls were skipping back towards the fire followed by some some very tired adults. 

It was getting late, and Charity decided it was time to take the girls home. Despite the girls protests, everyone said their goodbyes. Constantine promised to continue their game of tag the next time they visited and Phillip told them that him and Anne would stop by their home soon to have dinner. 

Phillip and P.T walked Charity and the girls to an awaiting carriage. Soon they were off, and the two men headed back to the circus. Already the tone of the party changed, and it was clear to the two men that the second Charity and the girls left, the alcohol came out and was probably being consumed this very moment. 

“You can crash in my tent tonight” Phillip told P.T as they walked back to the party.

“What? No that won’t be necessary. I don’t plan on staying late and I’ll just walk into town and find a carriage to take me home.”

Phillip raised an eyebrow at P.T. “Yeah, how did that plan work out for you the last time?” 

P.T thought back to the last time he had visited, and how he had mysteriously woken up on a pile of hay in the show tent. He still had no memory of most of that night, or why he was dressed in one of Lettie’s dresses. 

“Fair point” P.T finally conceded. “But where will you sleep?”

“W.D has room in his tent.” Phillip said. “Remember Anne and W.D use to share a tent back in the beginning. I can just crash there.”

“Uh-hu” P.T said suspiciously. 

“What?” Phillip asked.

“Nothing, I just wont be surprised if somehow you manage to pass out in someone else’s tent is all.” P.T gave Phillip a sly grin.

Phillip rolled his eyes, but was unable to hide the grin that appeared. 

“It makes me happy seeing you two together” P.T continued. “I knew the second you two first met that you both would end up together.”

“And how could you possibly had known that” Phillip said. “From what I remember Anne wasn’t exactly a fan of mine when I first showed up”. 

“Oh I beg to differ” P.T said. “I saw it in the way the two of you looked at each other that night. You were more obvious about it than Anne was, that’s for sure, but I saw the way Anne looked at you, and in my experience a woman doesn’t look at a man that way unless she likes what she sees.”

Phillip looked to the ground, slightly embarrassed. 

P.T continued “You both definitely tried your best to sabotage yourselves, but I’m glad that it all worked out in the end.”

“I was an idiot back then” Phillip said, thinking back on all the awful mistakes he had made when it came to Anne.

“True, but Anne didn’t make it easy for you either. She had a a pretty thick wall built up around her, and she wasn’t exactly willing to open the door for you.” 

“I’m still surprised she forgave me” Phillip said. 

“I think running into a burning building to save her gave her enough reason to forgive you.” P.T said. 

Phillip looked away, feeling embarrassed.

“It’s not like I actually saved her.” Phillip mumbled. “All I managed to do was get knocked out and you needed to run in and save me”. 

P.T stopped and turned towards Phillip. 

“Phillip, it’s has nothing to do with if you actually saved her. No one knew where she was. We all thought she was still inside the building. What matters is that you were convinced she was trapped inside and you ran in, without a second thought, to save her. You were willing to risk your life to save hers. That’s all that matters.”

Phillip was still embarrassed by the memory. Sure he didn’t have any true memory of what happened after the wooden beam knocked him out, but he was told that P.T had rushed inside to find him and had to carried him out. 

P.T was quickly becoming uncomfortable with where the conversation was leading. He still felt responsible for the whole thing. He had abandoned them, the ones that mattered most to him, and he nearly lost them all because of it. 

Thankfully, a bellowing shout from an angry “Irish giant” filled the air, pulling Phillip and P.T’s attention towards the glow of the fires. 

“Looks like Pavlo discovered his alcohol is missing” P.T chuckled. 

“Oh man” Phillip signed, running a hand over his faced. He could only imagine what craziness was going on at the tents. 

“Just wait until he finds out its in Charles’ tent” P.T said with a smirk.

“I would hate to think that you had something to do with all of this” Phillip said with a suspicious glance at P.T

P.T shot his hands up defensively. “Hey, I didn’t do anything this time. I can’t say for sure that W.D didn’t have some hand in it though.”

Phillip could help but laugh at the idea of W.D hiding Pavlo’s alcohol in Charles’ tent. W.D might be quiet, but there was no denying the mischievous streak that man had. 

Suddenly, a very shocked and angry sounding Charles yelled “Why on earth would I steal your booze, that shit could blind someone”

“We better get back” Phillip said. 

P.T agreed, wanting to get back more to see the drama unfold more than to help control it. 

P.T and Phillip came across quite the scene when they reached the others. Constantine and O’Malley were trying to hold back a very angry (and drunk) Pavlo, while Walter was holding back an even angrier (and perhaps drunker) Charles. W.D could be seen off to the side with Lettie, both laughing so hard they had doubled over. The other performers were standing around, laughing and passing around a few bottles of alcohol, to include the good whisky and champaign P.T had brought with. 

Phillip took a seat next to Anne, who was just sitting there enjoying the show. Everyone knew that Pavlo would never actually hurt Charles, he was probably the last person in that whole troop who would hurt anyone, but it was funny to see the unusually tall man being accosted by the extremely small Charles. 

“Took you long enough” Anne said, leaning towards Phillip but not breaking eye contact with the antics going on ahead of her. “You’re missing quite the drama.”

“No thanks to your brother from what I hear” Phillip said, and Anne finally looked at Phillip.

“Why Phillip, I certainly have no idea what you are implying. My brother would never secretly steal Pavlo’s alcohol and hide it in Charles tent.” 

Phillip looked a little surprised at the fact that Anne basically knew exactly what happened. She also was clearly buzzed. 

“Why Anne Wheeler, I never took you as the pranking type” Phillip said, and amused smile plastered on his face.

Anne simply shrugged, and pulled up a bottle of Champaign that Phillip hadn’t noticed before, and said seductively “There’s quite a few things you don’t know about me, Mr. Carlyle”.

Damn, that woman always knew the right things to say to Phillip to make his pulse quicken.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I never fancied myself a fluff writer, so hopefully this chapter isn’t horrible. I just like the chemistry the whole circus family has, and I wanted to touch on some of it in this story. 
> 
> My next chapter is finished and will probably be up shortly. I had planned on this story only being about 6 chapters long, but that clearly isn’t going to happen. I am just going to continue typing and see where the story takes me. 
> 
> Let me know what you all think! If you have any constructive criticism to make this story better please let me know! Thank you all for reading!


	6. Hidden threat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The party might be dying down, but the dangers are just starting to build up.
> 
> Or where Phillip heads to his tent and is greeted by some unwelcomed guests.

As the night went on the crazy antics died down and were replace with everyone huddling up near the fire, singing songs from their various shows. By now almost everyone was either buzzed or drunk.

P.T took a seat next to Phillip, and the two of them shared a bottle of whiskey and talked about the show, exchanging some ideas and discussing the possibility of taking the show on the road. Neither man was drunk, but both had a nice buzz going on.

Anne, who was also comfortably buzzed, but not drunk like some of the others, curled up closer to Phillip as the chill of the night air started to sink in. 

“I think I’m going to head to my tent to grab my shawl.” Anne said. 

“You mean the pink one that you left in my tent a week ago” Phillip replied. 

“Ugh!” Anne sighed. Phillip’s tent was far away and she did not feel like walking all that way, especially since she was already cold. 

“I’ll get it” Phillip said before Anne could decide whether or not she wanted to put the effort into retrieving it. Phillip needed to stretch his legs out anyway and he figured the fresh air would do him some good. He jumped up and heading towards his tent. 

Phillip’s tent was the furtherest from the main troop’s tents. He wanted to make sure he gave the troop their space without their “boss” living right next to them. As Phillip walked his mind started to wander.

Phillip couldn’t remember the last time he allowed himself to completely relax and not worry about what work he had to get done for the following day. It was nice to simply kick back and enjoy the company of his friends.

It was also nice to have P.T around again to bounce ideas off of and listen to what crazy ideas P.T had in store for the show. Phillip didn’t realize how much he missed listening to P.T’s creative ideas. Phillip made a mental note to have more of these get togethers more often. 

Phillip was lost in his thoughts as he neared his tent, but a sudden noise snapped Phillip back to his surroundings. Phillip thought he hear someone cough. Seeing nothing in front of him, Phillip turned around, but all he saw behind him was the distant glow of the fire pits from the tents. He could still hear the distant chatter/laughter of his friends. Shrugging to himself, he turned around to continue to his tent, which stood about 15 feet away. 

Phillip got within 10 feet of his tent when he noticed dark figures appearing around either side of his tent. Phillip stopped dead in his tracks, his brain desperately trying to rationalize what he was seeing. Who on earth would be out by his tent at this time of night? As far as Phillip knew, almost every performer had gathered by Lettie’s tent. 

Phillip, still frozen in place, watched as five men came around his tent and started to approach Phillip. 

Phillip’s brain finally snapped out of his initial shock. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up as Phillip watch the men approach him. These men were not familiar to Phillip, but there was something about how these men were behaving that told Phillip they were up to no good.

“Excuse me gentlemen” Phillip said, trying his best to sound calm and confident. “Can I ask what you are doing back here? This area is for performers only.”

The men said nothing as they continued walking towards Phillip. By now the taller of the 5 men was no more that 5 feet away from Phillip, and the other 4 had split off and were starting to circle around Phillip. 

Not good! Phillip thought to himself. Phillip’s eyes darted to either side of him as he saw the men spread out around him, then his eyes darted back at the man who had stopped right in front of him. 

The man was tall, much taller than Phillip. His beard was long and unkempt and it looked (and smelled) like the man hadn’t bathed in weeks. The other 4 men didn’t look any better, and Phillip suddenly flashed back to the angry mob that had set fire to the circus all those months ago. Yeah, these men definitely weren’t here to congratulate Phillip on the success of his show.

Phillip set his feet and held his head high as he looked at the taller man. “Sir, if you are lost I could gladly direct…..”

“Shut your face Carlyle!” the taller man spat. The stench of whiskey filled the air as the man spoke. 

Definitely not good! Phillip thought. 

“I’m sorry” Phillip replied. “Have we met before? How do you know my name?”

The men all chuckled. The taller man tilted his head and spat on the ground before replying.

“Don’t talk to us like we’re stupid. There isn’t a person in this city who can’t spot a Carlyle, especially a Carlyle who disgraced his family’s name by staying in the company of freaks and spooks.” 

The man’s tone was gravely and dangerous sounding, but that didn’t detour Phillip’s sudden rush of anger. 

“I’m sorry, but the only freaks I see are currently standing in front of me” Phillip spat back, the alcohol no doubt contributing to his brashness. 

The taller man growled in anger and took a step towards Phillip. He took a mad swing right at Phillip’s face, but the man’s movements were clumsy and slow, no doubt due to the amount of alcohol in his body.

Phillip slid out of the way and shoved the man into the ground. Phillip might not be a fighter, but he was currently living with a group of born fighters, and some of them might have taught Phillip a thing or two about defending himself after seeing how wildly unskilled Phillip was in his first fight. 

“Tell me, when was the last time you took a bath, because you’re starting to attract flies with your stench.” Phillip quipped at the man who was currently struggling to get up. Phillip saw movement from his side and he quickly glanced up at the other 4 men who seemed to be debating if they should jump in to help their friend.

“Listen, do yourselves a favor and leave! Take your friend and go sober up somewhere, anywhere, but not here.”

Phillip hoped that the 4 men were less intoxicated and would see some reason to what Phillip was saying. Sadly that was all wishful thinking.

The taller man had risen up into a kneeling position by this point. The man, angrier than ever, quickly got his bearings and grabbed Phillip by his ankles and yanked back, pulling Phillip’s feet out from under him. Phillip yelped in surprise as he found himself falling backwards and landing hard on his back, knocking the air right out of his lungs. 

Off in the distance, W.D and Anne were walking towards Phillip’s tent. Phillip had been gone a long time and Anne was starting to wonder if he fell asleep in his tent. 

W.D, knowing that Anne was a little drunk and who didn’t like the idea of his sister walking alone, agreed to accompany her to check on Phillip. W.D only had a few drinks that night, and was mostly sober by the time they headed out. 

As they got closer to Phillip’s tent a strange noise caught W.D’s attention and he stopped walking, causing his sister to walk right into him. 

“What the hell W.D…” Anne said as she recovered from running right into her brother. 

W.D didn’t respond. Anne was about to continue her protest when Anne thought she heard someone talking. 

The two continued to listen. There was definitely something going on near the direction of Phillip’s tent. A voice would occasionally be carried on the wind, cutting through the hum of the party behind them. They couldn’t understand what was being said, but both W.D and Anne seemed to have the same feeling that something was wrong.

“Something’s wrong W.D”. Anne’s voice was hushed, but she couldn’t hide the growing anxiety she was starting to feel.

W.D grabbed his sister’s hand. “We don’t know anything yet. Stay next to me and don’t say a word. For all we know Phillip found some random person and is trying to convince them to come see the show”. 

It was a stretch in logic for sure, but W.D didn’t want to worry his sister anymore than she already was. Truthfully there was something in the air that put W.D on alert, the same something that W.D kept noticing during the week.

Something was definitely wrong.


	7. Is it Impossible?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Phillip finds himself trapped in a fight he cannot possibly win. Phillip hopes he can find a way to break away from the angry thugs that surrounded him and make it back to his friends, but his hope is quickly dwindling.  
> Will Anne and W.D get to Phillip in time? Even if they do, will they be able to do anything to help Phillip against 5 men who want nothing more than to see Phillip and the circus suffer?  
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This will probably be my last chapter update before I leave on vacation. I will have my tablet with me, but I doubt I will get enough free time to write the next chapter while I am away. 
> 
> I will only be gone until Friday, so chapter 8 should be up no later than the weekend. 
> 
> Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to read my first fanfic  
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Phillip found himself staring up at the stars of the night sky, his lungs temporarily forgetting how to work and his head throbbing. He found it hard to focus on what was going on around him.

Suddenly, the sight of the stars was replaced by the face of one very angry thug.

Before Phillip could register what was going a sudden explosion of pain blossomed a crossed the side of his face, followed by something warm trickling down his cheek.

_Shit, ow!! What the f......ohh right, the thugs...._

Phillip was frustrated with how slow he was processing his surroundings, but he finally pulled his arms up and across his face just before the second blow came in.

The thug that he has side stepped was now on top of him, trying to pound Phillip’s face into the dirt.

Phillip, finally regaining his bearings, was able to bring his knees up to his chest and kick/push the thug off of him.

Phillip stumbled up into a standing position, shaking off the wave of dizziness that washed over him the second he was upright. Phillip shook his head, desperately trying to stay focused.

Phillip was so focused on the taller man on the ground that he completely forgot about the four other men who had surrounded him, and had no way to protect himself as one of the men, metal bar in hand, struck Phillip on the side.

Phillip gave a shout of both surprise and pain as the metal bar struck the right side of him, sending a wave of pain that flooding his senses. Before Phillip could step out of the way another blow came, and Phillip swore he heard something crack.

Phillip, holding his side protectively, suddenly found it difficult to breath, which was causing him to panic. He was already having a hard time focusing on the fight and now he had bruised, possibly broken ribs to deal with.

Phillip could sense the group closing in on him, picking up on the cruel taunts and laughter coming from them.

_Shit, shit, shit....this was bad...this was really bad._

“What’s wrong Carlyle, cat got your tongue?” one man teased. “Did you finally run out of words to say”

Phillip took that moment to straighten up despite his rib’s protest, and look towards the men.

“Sorry….I just didn’t take you for a coward” Phillip said, panting slightly through the pain. “Having your friend here give me a cheap shot like that….you must not think you can take me in a fair fight.”

Phillip was praying that his words would wound the taller man’s pride so the taller man would call off his goons. It worked.

“Coward?! I ain’t no coward Carlyle!”

“Then fight me one on one…don’t let your little friend’s do it for you”. Phillip shot back, still holding his injured ribs.

Phillip thought he had a chance against the taller man. Sure he was much bigger than Phillip, but he was also the most inebriated (from what Phillip could tell), and Phillip hoped he could stay a step ahead of him if he didn’t have to worry about the other four.

The man let out a growl, a combination of frustration and anger.  
  
“You can take him boss” one of the other men shouted.

“Make this rich boy eat his words” said another.

The taller man straightened up and started striding towards Phillip.

Phillip tried to take a deep breath, but the move caused his ribs to protest with pain.

_Just stay a step ahead of him. Phillip thought._

Phillip knew he couldn’t keep this up much longer. Maybe he would find a chance to run towards the others. Or maybe someone would find him. All Phillip knew was something had to change and fast, otherwise Phillip was not going to come out on top of this mess.

~~~~~~~

  
Anne and W.D had made it to Phillip’s tent, and were shocked at what they saw.

Phillip was on the ground, face looking up towards the sky, and a stumbling man hand just dropped to his knees, straddling Phillip’s chest, and punched Phillip right in the face.

Anne gasped and made like she was going to run right for Phillip when W.D grabbed her, one arm wrapping around her waist, the other gently covering her mouth.

Anne fought him as he dragged her off and out of hearing distance of the fight.

Once W.D let go Anne turned on him angrily.

“What are you doing?! We have to help him!” Anne said, a mixture of anger, shock and a hit of betrayal coming off her voice.

“Anne, we just cant rush in there! There are 5 men there! We can’t do anything when we are outnumbered.”

W.D wasn’t sure what state Phillip was in to help with the fight.

Anne was looking over W.D’s shoulder’s straining to get a glimpse of what was happening to Phillip.

“Listen!” W.D shook Anne gently. “You need to run back to the others.”

“What?!” Anne said in shock. “No! I won’t leave…”

“You have to Anne!”. W.D snapped back. “We cannot help him without help.”

Anne looked back over towards Phillip’s tent, anxiety overwhelming all her senses.

“Go get the others!” W.D continued. “I’ll stay and keep an eye on Phillip.”

Anne looked into W.D’s eyes and W.D could see the fear clouding them, the same fear he saw in her eyes when she saw Phillip being pulled from the fire.

“Anne, I promise I will not let anything happen to him, but I need you to get help. The quicker the others get here, the better. Now go!”

Anne didn’t want to leave, but she couldn’t argue W.D’s logic. Anne was tough, but there was no way she would be able to hold off a grown man, let alone 5. W.D would be able to help, but she knew that him and Phillip alone wouldn’t be able to hold off 5 angry thugs for long.

Anne gave one more worried glance over to where Phillip was before turning around and running back to camp.

Once Anne was out of sight W.D headed back to where the fight was going on. Phillip was standing now, but he was gripping his side protectively. Off to Phillip’s side stood a man who looked like he had a bat or a pipe of some sort clutched in his hand.

W.D put two and two together and suddenly the urge to run out there and punch the pipe-wielding man right in the face nearly overwhelmed him.

W.D was about to make his move when Phillip started talking.

W.D listened as Phillip, clearly in pain, was taunting one of the thugs. W.D couldn’t help but roll his eyes. Phillip might had been hesitant to get into a physical confrontation, but Phillip was never short on words and Phillip never backed down.

W.D listened as Phillip called out one of the thugs, and soon it became obvious that Phillip was calling out the tallest of the group. He could see the taller man growing angrier as Phillip spoke and W.D had no clue what Phillip was trying to do. Provoking the larger of the men didn’t seem like such a great idea.

Then it clicked. Phillip was trying to get the larger man to fight him one on one.

 _Smart move!_  W.D thought to himself. W.D wasn’t sure he would had been that cleaver in the heat of a fight.

Phillip’s taunts seemed to work. The other men started to back off as the taller man approached.

W.D struggled with whether to run in and help or stand back and wait. If he ran in now, the four other men would not hesitate to join the fight, and depending on how injured Phillip already was, W.D wasn’t sure how long he could hold them back before Anne arrived with help.

W.D did not like the way Phillip was standing. As much as Phillip tried to sound like he was fine, it was clear to W.D that he was hurt. Phillip didn’t seem like he was able to stand up straight, and his arm still hadn’t left the side that W.D assumed had been it with the object he saw one of the thugs holding.

W.D also thought he saw a glimpse of blood on the side of Phillip’s face, but it was dark and the only source of light was coming from the moon.

W.D, fits clenched with frustration, decided the best course of action was to wait and see what happened. Maybe Phillip could hold the one man off long enough for the others to arrive. If not, W.D would run in and try to hold his own until Anne returned. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is my first fanfic ever, so I hope the pacing and the details of the story are done well. As always please feel free to leave any positive or negative feedback, just please keep them respectful. I am always open to constructive criticism and will make any changes that need to be made to make the story better.
> 
> Once again, I am going out of town tomorrow morning, so chapter 8 might not go up until the 5th of January. If I get enough free time I will put it up before then, but I don’t want to rush the story for the sake of posting sooner.
> 
> I wish everyone a safe and happy New Years!!!


	8. Breathe

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anne stumbles across Charles in her dash to get help. Passing the message to Charles she rushes back to be with Phillip, leaving Charles to run back to camp and gather the others.  
> ~~~~~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy New Year!!!!! I hope everyone had a safe and fun holiday week!! 
> 
> I had a very nice time visiting my brother’s family and meeting my one month old nephew for the first time! 
> 
> I hope you enjoy this next chapter! I said I would have this chapter up by this weekend so I woke up extra early today to finish it up and publish it as promised. 
> 
> I also want to give a huge thanks to both Bumblie_Bee and pro_fangirl for giving me some advise to make the story read smoother. I tried to edit this new chapter so I didn’t use the character’s names so often, and I will try to go back (probably when this story is finished) and edit the first 7 chapters.  
> ~~~~~~

Anne raced towards the others.

_Damnit, why did his tent have to be so far away from the others?!_

The circus troop had set up their tents well behind the show tent, while Phillip decided to set up his tent about 10ft from the show tent and off to the side of it. This allowed him to go back and forth between his tent and the show tent more quickly so he could get more work done.

Phillip also didn’t want to be too close to the performer’s tents. Sure they were all pretty much family by this point, but he was still part owner of the show, making him their boss. He figured the performers would want their own space, and not want their boss staying so close to them.

As Anne ran towards the others her foot found a stray tree branch, causing her to trip and stumble on the ground.

“Damnit!” Anne cursed, as she tried to recover as quickly as possible from the fall. She knew she cut up her knees some by the stinging she felt, but that did very little to slow her down.

As she got up Anne heard a voice off to her side.

“Anne.....are you ok?”

Anne looked over and saw Charles standing a few feet from her. He had a few branches gathered in his arms, no doubt collecting more wood for the fire.

Anne couldn’t hold back her words as anxiety and adrenaline took over.

“We have to get the others! Phillip….they want to hurt him! We need the others…..!”

Anne was panting hard due to how fast she was running and how scared she was becoming.

“What about Phillip?” Charles asked, struggling to make sense of Anne’s quick and broken up words.

Anne was on the verge of hysterics as she tried to explain what she had seen.

“There were men….by Phillip’s tent…..they have him surrounded! Phillip, he…..he looked hurt! Can you tell the others?! I need to get back to Phillip! Tell P.T and the others to get to Phillip’s tent. Tell them he’s hurt, and they need to hurry!!”

“Shit…” Charles still didn’t fully grasp was going on, but at least now he could understand that Phillip was in some sort of trouble and he had to get the others.

Charles dropped the branches that were in his arms and ran as quick as his legs to take him back to the others.

Anne turned around and started back towards Phillip.

Please let him be ok! Anne thought as she headed back.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  
Most of the circus troop had turned in for the night. A few stragglers were still walking around the camp, and surrounding one of the fire pits was P.T, Lettie, Constantine, O’Malley and Walter.

They were all in the middle of a conversation when Charles suddently stumbled out of the darkness, looking exhausted.

“You okay Charles?” P.T asked, cocking an eyebrow up, trying to figure out why Charles was in such a state.

“Need…..you have….Phillip…..” Charles coughed out, panting heavily as he tried to speak. He wanted to say more but his lungs were too busy trying to suck in as much oxygen as they could. His body was definitely not use to the physical exertion he had just put it through.

“Whoa, you gotta breathe Charles” Lettie said. “What’s going on?” Lettie paused, a smirk formed on her lips. “Is that bobcat back in the camp again?”

Lettie thought back to the time that Charle’s had stumbled into camp, completely out of breath and going on about a bobcat. Apparently he had been walking around the outskirts of their camp when he swore he saw a bobcat, which might not seem like a huge cat to an average adult, but still big and big enough to strike fear into the smaller Charles.

A few of the performers when out to find the cat but found no trace of it. Despite everyone trying to convince him that there was no bobcat Charles refused to leave the camp for a solid month after.

Charles, still panting heavily, waved off her comment dismissively. 

“You said ‘Phillip’” Constantine chimed in, not missing the name as Charles tried to get ahold of himself. “Does Phillip need something?”

Charles, who had been trying to slow down his panting, attempted to speak again.

“I saw….Anne….she said…..she said there were men…..that Phillip was….that they surrounded Phillip”.

This got everyone’s attention.

“What do you mean ‘surrounded Phillip’” P.T interrupted, a hint of anxiety lacing his voice. “Is he ok?”

Charles was slowly recovering from his sprint to the camp.

“I saw Anne….she was running….she had tripped….I asked if she was ok. She said….she said there were men….that Phillip needed help.”

Charles took in another deep breath before continuing.

“She said that Phillip looked hurt. That these men….they had him surrounded. She asked me to get help…to tell you to go to Phillip’s tent….that you had to hurry.......then she ran off.”

P.T felt his heart sink as fear quickly overcame him. He stood up and turned to see the other’s quickly doing the same, all apparently interpreting Charles’s message the same as he had.

“This doesn’t sound good P.T” Lettie said, her voice full of worry. The others nodded in agreement.

“I don’t know what kind of trouble Phillip is in” Charles said, finally finding it easier to talk. “…but judging by how frantic Anne looked, it’s not good.”

“Right…” P.T said, struggling to concentrate. A dozen scenarios were flashing through his head, each one worse than the other. It took him a couple seconds to snap out of it and focus on what to do next.

“Charles, go to Lettie’s tent. Find our medical supplies and set them out. I don’t know if Phillip is hurt, but I’d rather have everything ready just in case. Then go wake up a few of the others…the ones who aren’t passed out drunk. Let them know what’s going on. We might need some extra help.”

P.T had no way of knowing what they needed, but at least this felt like they had some sort of plan in place.

Charles instantly wanted to protest being left behind. He wanted to go with them, to see if Phillip was ok. Sure, he might had doubting the rich boy’s intentions when Phillip first joined the circus, but Phillip had quickly proven that he was not there simply because he was bored or because he wanted to see the ‘freaks’ up close.

Charles remembered how Phillip never gawked at him the way other members of society did. Phillip always treated him and the other performers with respect and kindness right from the start. He might had been uncomfortable and a bit awkward when he first started, but Charles assumed that was more because Phillip was nervous that the circus wouldn’t accept him (not to mention it had to be a huge culture shock switching from theater producer to circus employee).

He remembered when Phillip went to bat for them when it came time to visit the Queen of England, stating that either all of them went, or none of them. That was probably the moment when Charles starting trusting Phillip’s intentions for the circus.

Charles also remember that it was Phillip, not P.T, who stood with them during the Jenny Lind concert and how it was Phillip who fought to keep the circus going while P.T went touring with his more socially acceptable show.

Then there was the fire, and if anyone had any lingering doubts about Phillip’s loyalty, those doubts quickly vanished the second Phillip vanished back into the burning building.

As the others continued to talk, Constantine, who knew Charles would not want to stay behind, knelt down next to the tiny General and spoke just loud enough for Charles to hear.

“I know you want to come, but we have to move fast and we need someone here to get shit ready for when we get back.”

Initially, Charles wants to argue and say that just because he is small doesn’t mean he cant keep up, but deep down he knows Constantine has a point. It’s not a matter of his determination, but a matter of his realistic limitations.

“Look, you’re the only one, minus Lettie, that can get this group to do anything. I mean, lets be honest, half these guys are secretly scared of pissing you off so of course they’re going to listen to you.”

Charles couldn’t hold back the chuckle that escaped his mouth. He knew Constantine wasn’t bullshitting him. Charles might be small, but he was blessed with a booming voice that was much deeper than anyone would expect to come from him, and he feared nobody. The combo of the two definitely helped him appear intimidating despite his size.

Constantine placed his hand on Charles’ shoulder, gripping it slightly when he spoke next. 

“P.T trusts you, we all trust you, that’s why we need you to stay behind and get things ready, to be in charge, just in case.”

Charles just sighed, his shoulders dropping slightly.

Constantine was right.

Whether Charles admitted it or not, he knew he wouldn’t be much help in a fight, and he could do more to help Phillip if he made sure everything was ready for when they returned to camp.

Constantine stood back up, satisfied that he had gotten through to his stubborn friend.

P.T had noticed the two’s conversation and assumed that Constantine had successfully convinced Charles to stay behind. He would have to thank Constantine for saving him from a pissed off Charles in that moment.

There wasn’t must else to do but head towards Phillip’s tent. As much as P.T wanted to have a plan going forward, there was no way to know what they were walking into.

The five headed off, agreeing to go as quickly as possible until they got close to the tent, then they would sneak up to the patch of bushes they could hide behind. There they would observe exactly what was going on and go from there.

P.T was doing his best to convince himself things were going to be ok, that Charles had exaggerated what Anne had said, or maybe Anne had exaggerated what she saw, but this did nothing to stop the dread he felt in the pit of his stomach.

Anne was not one to give in to hysterics and Charles was not one to embellish a story. No matter how much P.T tried to convince himself otherwise, he knew, deep down, that Phillip was in trouble.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am hoping I can get a lot more writing done today and tomorrow. I work for a school and was on winter break when I first started this story, making it easy to publish chapters every day or two
> 
> Unfortuatley, winter break is over, which means I go back to work Monday and lose a LOT of time to work on this story. 
> 
> My hope moving forward is to publish a chapter every Friday and Sunday until it’s completed, so expect weekly updates going forward. 
> 
> As always your comments are welcomed and any constructive criticism is appreciated.


	9. It Feels Impossible

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> RECAP:
> 
> W.D, fists clenched with frustration, decided the best course of action was to wait and see what happened. Maybe Phillip could hold the one man off long enough for the others to arrive. If not, W.D would have no choice but to run in and try to hold his own until Anne returned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~~~~~  
> I guess waking up at 2:30am has some perks...I was able to finish one more chapter before work resumes tomorrow. 
> 
> One again thank you all for taking time to read my story. My next update should be up in 5-6 days.   
> ~~~~

Phillip was getting tired. No, scratch that, Phillip was exhausted.

He’d been doing a decent job at fighting off his attacker, throwing a few punches anytime the taller man gave Phillip an opening.

The taller man was sporting a busted lip and a bloody nose for his efforts, but, unlike Phillip, he wasn’t slowing down.

Phillip felt the man’s knuckles graze his cheek as he barely ducked out of the way of the taller man’s swing.

_Okay...that was a little too close._

Phillip winced in pain as his hand shot to his side, his injured ribs protesting with every movement he was making.

To make matters worse, the back of his head was throbbing, and it was getting harder and harder for him to shake off the waves of dizziness that kept crashing into him.

Phillip could hear the taunts from the four other men reminding him that there were still 4 uninjured assholes he had to deal with.

The larger man, being cheered on by his friends, seemed to get his second wind, because his next punch came much faster and it took Phillip by surprise.

Phillip barely got his hands up in time to stop the man from punching him straight in the face, but he didn’t react in time to stop the man from delivering a second blow straight to his stomach.

Phillip doubled over in pain, suddenly finding it impossible to breathe.

The taller man saw his opening and threw another punch, this time fully connecting with the side of Phillip’s head.

Phillip was on the ground now, landing painfully on his knees. He threw one hand to the ground, catching himself from face planting onto the cold grass.

The other men cheered when they saw their friend knock Phillip to the ground, which only helped fuel the taller man’s confidence. He stepped up next to Phillip, spat at him, and proceeded to mock him.

“Not as tough as you though you were….are ya Carlyle?!” the taller man snarled out of breath, rubbing the blood that was flowing from his nose with his arm.

“Go to hell” Phillip panted, but his words came out raspy as he struggled to breath.

The taller man rolled his eyes and scoffed at the remark. He gave a quick glance to his friends as if to say ‘Now he’s really going to pay’.

 

W.D had enough. Phillip’s attacker had suddenly gained the upper hand and now Phillip was on the ground, seemingly unable to defend himself.

So much for waiting for back up to arrive.

W.D had already started his charge when he heard Phillip tell his attacker to go to hell.

_Shut your damn mouth Carlyle!_ W.D swore Phillip had a death wish sometimes. 

He picked up the pace, hoping he could get to Phillip in time before the taller man could retaliate.

He did not get there in time.

W.D watched as the taller man planted one foot and kicked Phillip in the stomach as hard as he could with the other. Phillip cried out in pain as he was knocked completely over onto his side, curling in on himself.

W.D saw red.

The taller man barely regained his balance before something collided, hard, into him, sending him flying to the ground. He was barely able to comprehend what had just happened before he found himself being assaulted by a furry of heavy punches.

W.D had shoulder-tacked the taller man right into the ground, falling heavily on top of him. He quickly sat up and proceeded to punch the man as hard as he could. He knew he had to make quick work of the man before the four other goons realized what happened and jumped in.

The taller man’s friends were stunned. They were too preoccupied with mocking Phillip and celebrating their almost assured victory that they never saw W.D coming until he collided with their friend.

With their friend now on the ground, the four men struggled to make sense of the scene that was unfolding before them.

“What the hell?!’ One man shouted.

Their alcohol-hazed brains started to realized that someone just knocked their friend to the ground. They nervously started talking to each other, trying to figure out what the hell was going on.

“Who the hell is that?”

“Hell if I know!”

“Shit! I think he is from that freak show”

Finally, one of the men figured it out.

“Awe shit, ain’t he that n*gro-bitch’s brother?!”

“Shit!!”

The four men were well aware of who W.D was, and they weren’t exactly thrilled with the idea of taking him on, even if they outnumbered him four to one.

W.D was an intimidating man, and his reputation for being a tough SOB was well known in certain circles in town.

Before they could decide whether or not they would jump him, W.D stood up.

W.D stopped his assault once he was confident he had fully knocked the asshole out. The man had stopped trying to defend himself, his eyes rolling in the back of his head. The only sound coming from him was his gurgled breaths as blood poured from his face.

W.D knew the four other men were still behind him, so he quickly got up and turned on them, his fists bloody, his eyes staring dangerously at them.

“Whatcha waiting for?!” W.D yelled. “You gonna fight me or not?!”

With his adrenalin fully kicked in, his fight mode in full effect, W.D prepared to take all four men on at once. They might get the upper hand, but not before he lays one or two of them out first.

The four men just stood there, their body postures caught somewhere between wanting to charge at W.D and wanting to running away.   
  


  
Anne had finally made it back to the tent. What she saw made her stomach drop.

Standing not 15ft from her was W.D, his stance tall and threatening as he was staring at the four men who had once surrounded Phillip.

Just behind him was the figure of a man sprawled out on the ground, and even though it was dark Anne could tell that was not Phillip.

Phillip’s attacker maybe?

Anne would had smiled at the thought of her brother beating Phillip’s attacker unconscious had it not been for what she saw next.

Off to the side of W.D, curled in on himself and barely moving, was Phillip.

“Phillip!” Anne yelled as she ran towards her boyfriend.

W.D’s eyes widened in panic as he quickly turned towards his sister’s voice. He saw her running towards Phillip and cursed silently, knowing that everything was about to go to hell.

 

Anne dropped to her knees when she got to Phillip. God he looked horrible.

Blood was caked in his hair and along his face, the one eye that Anne could see had started to swell.

Sweat beads had formed on his forehead, making his hair damp, and his breathing was coming in shallow, quick gasps.

Anne didn’t know what to do. Her hands hovered above Phillip, unsure if she should touch him or not

“Phillip, talk to me!” Anne begged as she placed one hand carefully on Phillip’s shoulder.

She then ran her fingers through his hair, noticing a sizable lump when she reached the back of his head.

Phillip immediately hissed in pain, flinching away as her hand touched the back of his head.

Anne pulled her hand back instantly, not wanting to hurt him anymore than he already was.

She gently placed her hand on the center of his back, rubbing it in a slow, circular motion when he didn’t flinch away.

“Phillip….can you hear me?” Anne whispered in his ear. “

“Baby… please talk to me!”

Anne choked out the last sentence, the lump in her throat making it nearly impossible to talk without sobbing.

She couldn’t help the tears that started to run down her cheeks as she tried to get her boyfriend to respond.

Phillip could barely make out the voice of his girlfriend, his senses overwhelmed by pain, dizziness and nausea.

He tried to look up towards her, but the pain simply wouldn’t allow him to.

He wrapped his arms tighter around his waist as he laid in the fetal position, unable to hold back the painful groan that escaped his lips.

 

The four men couldn’t believe their luck when they saw W.D get distracted by his sister’s sudden appearance.

They all glanced at each other briefly, all of them thinking the same thing.

Quickly they turned back to W.D and charged.

W.D was still starting at his sister when the four men charged.

Anne saw movement from the corner of her eye. She turned to see the men charging right at her brother.

“W.D! Look out!” Anne shouted.


	10. Shot in the Dark

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> EDIT: I went back and edited this chapter, so hopefully I caught all the grammatical errors and tweaked some of the wording
> 
> Sorry this chapter is late. My kids were sick over the weekend.  
> This is not completely edited so I appoligize if there are errors or if some sentences don’t run together smoothly. I hope to get some time to edit it more when I get home from work.

Phillip was only partially aware of what was going on around him.

He tried to breath through the pain.

_What the hell just happened??_

The last thing he remembered was the blinding pain that shot through his whole body after (Phillip could only assumed) the asshole he was fighting kicked him in his side/stomach.

He swore he could heard Anne’s voice, his sweet, beautiful Anne, and she soudned upset. She was calling his name. He had to snap out of it and let her know he was ok.

Phillip heard Anne cry out again, something about W.D

_Was W.D here??_

Phillip opened his eyes and turned towards the sound of Anne’s voice.

“….Anne?” Phillip said, his voice sounding more winded then he would had liked and clearly not loud enough for Anne to hear.

Anne was looking off to the side still, her face full of fear.

Phillip followed he gaze to see what had her so scared.

Off to the side of them were a small group of people who were clearly in the middle of fighting, but he couldn’t make out who they were.

Phillip blinked a few times, trying to get his eyes to focus better.

Finally he saw what had Anne so worried. W.D. was there and he was currently fighting off the remaining four men who had once surrounded him.

W.D was still on his feet and seemed to be holding his own, but Phillip knew that wouldn’t last much longer. He had to get up and try to help W.D.

He tried to sit up, but as his shoulders left the ground his ribs sent a shock of pain throughout his torso, causing him to yelp slightly and drop back to the ground.

This got Anne’s attention.

“Phillip!!” she gasped, his sudden movement and gasp of pain startling her.

“Phillip?! Phillip please answer me!”

Phillip, realizing his eyes were screwed shut again, forced his eyes open and looked up at Anne.

“Hey babe” Phillip coughed out, trying his best to calm his panicking girlfriend.

“Oh thank God!” Anne choked out, overcome with an overwhelming sense of relief.

“Are you okay?” Anne knew this was a dumb question the moment it left her lips. Clearly he was not okay.

“Been better” Phillip groaned, trying to hide the pain that was still trying to overwhelm him.

Phillip went to sit up again, slower this time, biting back the pain as he did.

Anne quickly leaned down to help him, supporting his back and slowly pushing him into a sitting position.

Phillip’s attention was back on W.D now that he was somewhat upright and could see what was going on.

The taller man that Phillip had fought was now sprawled out on the ground. His legs were twitching slightly, as if he was slowly starting to wake up.

W.D was busy fighting off the taller man’s four friends. The men seemed disorganized, which was the only reason W.D still had the upper hand.

Phillip noticed that, while W.D fought with one of the men, the other two were standing there, looking like they wanted to fight but were hesitating.

Wait, two men? Shouldn’t there be three?”

Just as Phillip realized they were one thug short, the fourth man appeared behind W.D and grabbed him under his armpits and restrained W.D so he couldn’t move or swing his fits.

_Shit!!_

The man W.D was fighting didn’t hesitate, and starting punching W.D as the fourth man held him.

W.D was fighting madly to get out of the man’s grasp, but the punches he was receiving from the man his front of him was quickly doing a number on him.

Phillip knew he had to do something. He wasn’t going to just sit there and watch one of his best friends get pummeled by these assholes.

He stumbled to his feet, the new rush of adrenalin dulling his pain.

“Whoa, what are you – Phillip you shouldn’t be moving!” Anne said as her boyfriend suddenly stumbled to his feet, hissing in pain as he did.

She kept a supportive arm around him the whole time, making sure he didn’t lose his balance.

“If we don’t help W.D they are going to kill him!” Phillip said, his voice suddenly sounding a lot stronger.

“You are in no condition to be fighting anyone!” Anne shouted, but it was clear she was just as worried for her brother as she was Phillip.

She had no idea what they were going to do. She wanted to jump in and help her brother, but she knew the men were much bigger than she was and she stood no chance.

She wanted Phillip to help her bother, but Phillip was struggling just to stand upright …what was he going to be able to do?

Phillip was just about to charge in when he heard shouts coming from just behind him.

Both Phillip and Anne turned as a new group of people showed up.

Phillip tensed up, grabbing Anne by the arm and putting himself in front of her protectively.

But the men didn’t charge at Phillip, they ran right past him and charged towards W.D.

It didn’t take Anne nearly as long to figure out what was happening.

She sobbed in relief as she recognized P.T’s voice and saw the members of the circus charging in.

Charles got her message to them!

They were going to be ok!

Phillip, still holding Anne behind him, saw a blur run past him.

_Walter??_

Phillip shook his head, frustrated at how fuzzy it felt and how hard it was to focus.

Suddenly someone was behind him and he whipped around defensively, almost falling over as he did.

“Whoa Carlyle, it’s me”

The person in front of him shot out their arms, as if they were trying to keep Phillip from tipping over.

“Lettie??” Phillip asked as he tried desperately to get his brain to catch up to what he was seeing.

Lettie nodded, “Yes Phillip, its me”. Lettie could see that Phillip was looking rough, and she didn’t miss how unsteady Phillip was, or how confused he looked.

“Thank God you’re here” Anne cried, her arm back around Phillip in fear that he would face plant into the dirt the second she let go.

“Charles told us you all found some trouble so we got here as quickly as we could”. Lettie said as the three turned to see what chaos was going on behind them.

Walter, P.T, Constantine and O’Malley had made quick work of the four men attacking W.D.

One of the men, at the sight of W.D’s friends arriving, turned tail and ran away as quickly as he could.

Walter saw the man running and took off after him.

The other three attempted to stand their ground, but were no match for the fury of the men charging at them.

Anne scanned for her brother, and let out another sigh of relief when she saw him still on his feet with some assistance from P.T.

The other three were each fighting one of the remaining thugs. They clearly weren’t as smart as their other friend who took off running at the first sign of trouble.

The three members of the circus troop made quick work of the men they were fighting, and soon everything seemed to be over. The thugs were all on the ground, beaten and bloodied, being restrained by their attacker.

“Hey boss, what do you want us to do with them” O’Malley shouted, kneeling on the back of the thug he quickly knocked out.

P.T, who was still supporting W.D, started at the thugs on the ground. He wanted nothing more than to deliver more physical punishment to the men who attacked his family, but he knew that would only make the circus look bad.

“Tie ‘em up. We’ll let the police handle them.” P.T said, his voice dangerously stern.

W.D was finally shaking off the beating he just received. He frantically started looking around, “Where’s Anne?? Where’s Phillip?? Are they okay??”

“Whoa, it’s okay – they are okay - look they are over with Lettie” P.T said trying to calm down the panicked man.

It was then that P.T saw Phillip and noticed that Phillip didn’t look all that okay.

“You doing alright Phillip?” P.T called out, his voice already filled with doubt.

Phillip, who was quickly coming down from that last quick burst of adrenalin, simply waved his hand in reply, as if to say he was fine. He dared not speak for fear that his voice would give away just how shitty he was feeling.

Of course, waving off P.T was just as bad of an idea because the movement jostled his injured ribs, causing his arm to shoot back down and around his side. Phillip bit his lip, refusing to let any sounds of pain escape his mouth.

Lettie raided an eyebrow at Phillip. She wasn’t fooled.

“Phillip…” Lettie said, waiting for him to actually answer P.T’s question.

“I’ll be fine” Phillip said, but there was no energy to his voice anymore.

All he wanted to do was sleep. Yeah, sleep sounded good. His tent was right there. P.T and the other’s had things handled. All he had to do was walk to his tent and sleep for a week.

“You’ll be fine once we have you looked over by a doctor” Anne shot back, her voice stern but still laced with worry.

“Both of you” as she turned to look at her brother.

W.D just rolled his eyes. He was standing on his own now, not needing the support of P.T. Sure he was banged up but it wasn’t anything outside the usual brawls he has been in before.

“I just need to sleep” Phillip protested, his voice starting to slur.

“Yeah, that’s not happening Carlyle. You look like you took one too many shots to your head, and I’m going to assume you took just as many to your ribs.” Lettie said, looking Phillip up and down and taking note of how he was standing and how slow he seemed to be registering his surroundings.

“You son’s of bitches!!”

Everyone whipped around, startled by the unsuspecting voice.

Standing in front of them was the thug who had started this whole thing, the man who, until now, showed little sign of being alive, let alone able to stand.

“Hey…” P.T started to shout back and he moved to approach the man.

P.T froze in place once he saw a flash of metal in the man’s hands.

That woke everyone up. Everyone froze as the dazed, furious man held a pistol in his hand.

“”Whoa, easy there….why don’t you put that down and we can talk.” P.T said, hands held up by his chest, praying he could reason with this man.

“Screw you Barnum!!” the man spat, pointing the pistol straight at him.

“It’s your fault my brother was put away! He is in prison because he tried to save this city from your circus freaks!”

_Brother??_

“Sir, I don’t know what you’re talking about” P.T continued, genuinely confused at what the man was rambling about.

It was then that W.D made the connection.

“Your brother was there the night of the fire, wasn’t he?” W.D said.

“He was there! He went there to talk some sense into you! To tell you to take your freaks and leave our town, once and for all!”

_Aw shit!!_

This was the brother of the man who had started the brawl the night of the fire?!

Everyone but P.T remembered that fight and they remembered the tall man who seemed to be leading the group of thugs who burned down their home.

The resemblance was unmistakable. This man was just as tall and looked nearly identical, the only difference was he looked about 5 years younger.

“All he wanted was for you to leave our town, and you beat him up for it! Now he’s sitting in prison and it’s all your fault!!”

The man pointed the pistil straight at Phillip as he spat out the last sentence.

Phillip’s mind suddenly went into overdrive. He froze, daring not to move while he tried to figure out what to do.

“He figured he could talk some sense into you! You’re are Carlyle! Surly you could see what damage this freak show was doing to our city?!”

The man took a dangerous step towards Phillip, causing everyone to hold their breath. The hand holding the gun trembling unsteadily.

“I tried to talk to your brother…” Phillip said, trying to keep his voice as calm as possible, still not daring to move, “…I politely asked him to leave but…”

“Shut your mouth Carlyle!”

Phillip flinched slightly at the man’s sudden outburst.

“You didn’t “try” to talk to him! You’re no different then these freaks you run with.”

The man paused before a dangerous grin appeared on his face.

“Now I’m going to show you what it’s like to lose someone you care for”

Before anyone could register what the man said he shifted the aim of the pistol square at Anne, who stood next to Phillip.

Phillip’s eyes darted quickly towards Anne, and he saw the look of terror that filled her eyes.

Phillip looked back at the man and saw the raw rage spilling out from him, and then the man tensed up as if steadying himself to fire.

_Shit!!_

During this time Walter had returned, dragging with him the shorter man who had tried to run away.

It only took him a few seconds to figure out that someone had a pistol and it was aimed in the direction of Anne, Phillip and Lettie.

Everything that happened next was a blur.

Phillip quickly shoved Lettie, causing her to fall to the ground and turned back to Anne.

Walter, dropping the man he had just captured, ran as fast as he could towards the man with the gun, hoping he could tackle him in time before the man could fire.

Phillip knew he was out of time.

He lunged out towards Anne just as the sound of gunfire filled the air. He crashed into Anne and tackled her to the ground.

As soon as the man let the first shot ring out he was suddenly tacked by Walter, who was just a few steps away when the gun went off.

Walter tackled the man hard to the ground, knocking the gun from his hands. The man was already injured so the blow from hitting the ground knocked all the wind out of his lungs.

P.T ran and kicked the gun out of the man’s reach.

Walter quickly got the taller man under control by punching him once on the back of his head, knocking him out cold.

Everyone quickly turned their attention to the three on the ground.

Lettie was already sitting up, completely stunned by what just happened.

Phillip and Anne were still on the ground, Phillip lying on top of Anne. None of them moved.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again sorry if this felt rushed. I really wanted to get a chapter out before work today. I will check it when i get home and edit anything that I missed, along with adding a summary and a chapter title. 
> 
> Hope you all enjoy! I am about 20 minutes behind getting ready for work so I will check in tonight!
> 
> EDIT: I was finally able to go back and edit this chapter. Hope you all like it. I’m hoping to have the next chapter up by tonight or tomorrow.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I edited chapter 10 this morning. There were a few things i re-worded and a few things I added to make it read better, but the story remained the same.

The last thing Anne remembered was looking down the barrel of a pistol.

Anne had never been that scared in all her life.

Her whole body froze. Even if she wanted to run away she couldn’t. She was frozen in place, unable to protect herself from the crazed man about to shoot her.

She suddenly felt something hit her…hard…as she heard the gunfire.

_He shot me!_

She landed on the ground and everything around her went dark.

It only took Anne a couple seconds to come around. At first she had no idea what was going on.

Quickly she realized that she was lying on the ground. Her whole body was hurting and it was hard to breath.

_Oh my God, he shot me!_

Anne started to panic when she found it difficult to draw in a full breath.

“….Anne?”

Phillip’s voice broke her out of her panic.

It was only then that she realized that Phillip was lying directly on top of her, chest to chest.

“Phillip?” Anne gasped.

Suddenly Phillip’s face appeared above hers, his eyes a mixture of fear and concern as he started hard into Anne’s eyes.

“Anne, are you okay??” He couldn’t hide the panic that he was feeling.

“I…I think so…” Anne stammered.

“Are you hurt??” Phillip said, looking at her to see if he could see any visible injuries.

_Am I hurt?_

It was then that Anne realized that, besides not being able to breath well and feeling sore from hitting the ground, that she wasn’t in that much pain.

_Holy shit....he missed me!?_

“…I don’t think so…it’s hard to breath…”

“Anne!! Phillip!!”

Anne tilted her head towards the anxious shouts of their friends. They were still by the gunman, but now were quickly making their way over to her and Phillip.

Phillip was struggling to get up when Lettie suddenly appeared.

“I’ve gotcha” she said as she carefully helped guide him off of Anne.

As soon as Lettie helped Phillip off Anne she could breath again. She tried to sit up, but she was suddenly picked up by the very strong arms of her brother.

Anne, oh my god Anne, are you okay? Are you hurt?? W.D was in full panic mode, looking hid sister up and down for the gunshot would he swore he would find.

“W.D I’m fine” Anne said.

“But the gun….he shot you!”

Anne held her arms out, to show W.D that she didn’t have a gunshot wound.

“Look…see I am okay. He didn’t shoot me.” Anne was just as surprised at the revelation.

W.D, overcome with relief, picked his sister up and wrapped his arms around her. His baby sister was ok.

Off to the side Lettie stood besides Phillip, who was still half sitting, half leaning on the ground. Both were watching W.D and Anne give each other the biggest hug they have ever given each other.

Lettie couldn’t believe their luck. Any one of them could had easily been shot.

She was also shocked that Phillip had the reflexes to push both her and Anne out of the way. Lettie barely had time to realize the gun was pointing towards them before she was shoved to the ground.

“You might not be the best fighter Carlyle, but you sure have some decent reflexes” Lettie said playfully.

Phillip chuckled softly, one arm still wrapped protectively around his side, the other arm propping his body up off the ground.

He was still in shock that Anne had not been hurt, and was happy to see her being embraced by her brother and her friends.

Lettie appeared in front of him, arm stretched out. “Break time’s over, how about we go get you cleaned up”.

Phillip sighed. He was not looking forward to moving around.

He reached up with the hand that was holding his ribs and took her hand.

His hand felt wet in Lettie’s grasp. Maybe it was from the grass, or from the sweat that covered his whole body?

During the same time Anne had finally let go of her brother, realizing that she had not seen Phillip since he was sprawled out on top of her.

“Wait…where’s Phillip” Anne asked, panic creeping back into her voice.

“He’s over with Lettie” Constantine said, nodding off in the direction of the two.

They all turned towards the two just as Lettie was about to help Phillip get up off the ground.

“See, he’s okay” P.T said as he walked next to Anne and W.D

Lettie made sure she had a good grip on Phillip’s hand before pulling him up.

The second Lettie pulled him up off the ground she knew she made a mistake.

Phillip wasn’t even fully upright before he doubled over onto himself, crying out in pain.

“Whoa…what’s wrong….” Lettie tried to ask before Phillip collapsed.

She was still holding Phillip’s hand so she quickly pulled him into her arms, catching him before he could collapse onto the ground

“Shit! What’s going on?! Phillip?! You’ve gotta tell me what’s wrong!” she pleaded, but the only response she got from the young ringmaster was a few painful groans.

Anne’s heart all but stopped when she heard Phillip cry out in pain and collapse into Lettie’s arm.

“What the..?”

“Phillip?!”

“Shit!”

P.T and the others simultaneously responded at the sight of Phillip collapsing, but Anne was already rushing over to his side. The others quickly followed.

Lettie was now kneeling on the ground, still supporting Phillip completely when Anne got to them.

She dropped to her knees looking Phillip over. Besides the injuries he received during his fight she didn’t see anything else wrong with him.

She knelt right next to Lettie and started rubbing her hand through his wet hair.

The other’s had arrived only a few seconds later.

“What’s wrong with him?!” P.T barked, his fear making his tone sound more angry than he intended.

“I don’t know!” Lettie said, guilt dripping from her voice.

“All I did was help him up…I…I don’t know what I did wrong?!”

Lettie was terrified. Did she pull him up too quickly? She didn’t think she did.

“Lettie, you didn’t do anything wrong”. W.D said as he knelt on the other side of her, casting a stern gaze to P.T, who was already regretted the tone that came out of his mouth.

“Sorry…I just…I didn’t mean that _you_  did something to him” P.T stammered. He looked back at Phillip, completely at a loss of what to do.

“Phillip…Baby what’s wrong” Anne asked, gently stroking Phillip’s hair.

Phillip could only groan in response.

Maybe it was the light, but from what little Anne could see of Phillip’s face he looked considerably paler than he did before.

Lettie finally let go of Phillip’s hand in order to get a better grip on him.

Walter was the first to notice the slick red liquid smeared on her hand.

“Lettie, did you cut your hand when you fell?” Walter asked, moving closer to her.

“I…no.. I don’t think so, why?”

“Your hand’s bleeding.”

Everyone’s eyes shot to Lettie’s hand.

Lettie moved her hand to get a better look at it. Sure enough there was blood smeared on it. How did she not know she was bleeding?

Then it hit her…..

_His hand felt wet..._

“Shiiiit….” Lettie cursed under her breath.

She quickly laid Phillip on the ground, causing Phillip to cry out in pain again.

“Lettie…what are you….?” Anne shouted, startled at how quickly Lettie moved Phillip.

“You just _had_ to play the hero again didn’t you?” Lettie said, cutting off Anne. She was so focused on Phillip she didn’t even hear Anne.

“Hero?” Anne asked quietly, completely confused by Lettie’s actions.

“Lettie….” P.T asked, knowing that Lettie figured something out. “….Lettie what’s going on??”

Lettie finally found what she was looking for. She gently touched Phillip’s side with her blood-free hand, the side he was holding onto when Lettie went to help him up, the side where his shirt now clung to his body, a damp liquid slowly spreading across it.

Phillip hissed in pain when she put pressure on his side. Everyone watched Lettie in stunned silence. P.T’s question still hung in the air.

Lettie removed her hand and stared at it for a second. How did she not see the blood on his hand when she first reached for it??

“Damnit Carlyle!” she cursed again as she looked at Phillip, but her tone only conveyed fear and guilt.

“Lettie….” P.T said, louder this time, his panic starting to show more.

Lettie finally looked up at her friends and held out her now blood stained hand for them to see.

Lettie could see the confusion in her friends eyes. They still hadn’t put the pieces together.

“That son of a bitch shot Phillip”. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope everyone is still enjoying the story. Since I am not a doctor, nor do I have any real knowledge of injuries/wounds I am going to keep my wound and treatment descriptions pretty general. I did research ways that gunshot wounds were treated in the late 1800’s so I will be using some of that information going into the next chapters. 
> 
> I might have time tomorrow to add one more chapter. If not I will definitely have a chapter up in 7 days.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the week long delay. I caught whatever virus was going around the school I work for last weekend and didn’t have the energy to write.
> 
> I had a harder time writing this chapter for some reason. Maybe its because its been two weeks since i last worked on it, but I hope I was able to continue the story without it seeming disjointed.
> 
> Hope you all enjoy!!

(Phillip’s POV)

 _Panic_.

That was the feeling that shot through Phillip as he watched that psychopath point a gun at his Anne.

 _Have to save her_.

He saw Lettie shift nervously to his other side.

 _Shit, Lettie was there too_.

 _Have to do something...have to save them_.

Suddenly all the pain and weariness Phillip felt was gone, replaced with raw determination to protect his friends.

Lettie was closest to him, so he quickly decided to shove her down onto the ground, feeling a twinge of guilt as how hard he ended up pushing the singer.

 _She’ll forgive me later_.

All of his attention shifted to Anne, who just stood there frozen in fear. Phillip will never forget the look on Anne’s face as she started at the gunman, knowing she was about to die.

Phillip took one step towards Anne before he realized that he might not get to her in time.

Phillip leapt through the air, deciding the quickest way to keep her out of danger was to just tackle her to the ground, using his own body to shield her.

Right as he was about to collide with Anne he heard the gunshot.

_Too late._

In an instant both of them hit the ground, hard.

It took a few seconds for Phillip to gather his thoughts.

To his surprise he didn’t feel any pain when he hit the ground.

_Anne!_

Anne had not moved this whole time.

“Anne?!” Phillip called out, struggling to prop himself up to get a good look at her.

Then he heard it…

…”Phillip?”

Relief flooded Phillip. She was alive!

_Was she hurt?_

Phillip finally propped up enough to see his girlfriend’s face.

 _She thinks she’s ok_.

_Shit, she can’t breathe...._

Phillip struggled to get up, convinced she had been shot and just didn’t know it yet.

Phillip felt an odd burning sensation starting to spread near his ribs as he struggled to move.

_Stupid broken ribs!_

Lettie was there suddenly, helping him slide off Anne. The burning sensation started to get worse.

_Suck it up...make sure Anne’s ok._

Relief flooded through Phillip as he watched W.D lift his sister up, the realization finally sinking in that Anne was ok.

_Thank God she is safe!_

Slowly his senses start returning to him.

All he can feel is this intense burning sensation on his side. He tries to wrap his arm around his side in order to ease the pain.

“Break time’s over”

Lettie is there again, and all Phillip can think is why can’t he just stay put right where he is.

Lettie is pulling him up to his feet.

The burning sensation is replaced with an explosion of burning pain.

He hears himself cry out in pain.

His legs betray him as he starts to collapse to the ground.

Somehow he doesn’t hit the ground.

People are around him now. He thinks he hears Anne talking to him, but he cannot focus over the intense burning pain that is radiating throughout the side of his body.

Suddenly his is back on the ground. The extra movement only makes the pain worse.

He thinks he hears Lettie. She does not sound happy.

Something is touching his side. All it does is make the throbbing, burning pain worse.

Phillip feels his grip on consciousness starting to slowly slip away.

He fights it, refusing to succumb to the darkness that is threatening to was over him.  
~~~~~~~~~

(Present)

There was a heartbeat or two of stunned silence.

Anne stared at Lettie’s hand, unable to fully process what she had just heard.

P.T also stood in stunned silence as he struggled to comprehend that his business partner (and best friend) had been shot.

Lettie was the only one who seemed to be thinking clearly.

As soon as she informed the group that Phillip was shot her attention quickly shot back to her fallen ring master.

She was shocked at how pale Phillip looked and for a second she could feel panic starting to wash over her.

 _Focus Lettie_!

She knew she had to get the bleeding under control. She reached back down and put both hands over the wound to keep pressure on it, ignoring the sickening feeling of the warm blood as she did.

As soon as Lettie applied pressure to the wound Phillip let out a painful cry, his body twisting as he tried desperately to roll away from the hands that were pressing painfully down on his side.

P.T was the first to snap out of his momentarily paralysis as the sight of his friend’s sudden struggle against Lettie.

P.T was at Phillip’s side in a second, dropping to his knees to help keep him steady as Lettie struggled to keep pressure on the wound.

Anne was in full shock at this point.

All she could do was watch as P.T held down Phillip’s shoulders as the younger man struggled weakly against his grasp.

She felt like she was in a dream and at any moment she would wake up and end this nightmare of a night.

P.T watched Phillip struggle against his grasp, his eyes screwed shut, his breathing coming out in painful gasps.

“Phillip!” P.T’s voice was firm yet gentle.

“Phillip, calm down. We are trying to help you. We have to get your bleeding under control.”

Phillip could hear P.T but couldn’t quite focus on what he was saying. He could hear the panic in the older man’s voice, and he did make out the word ‘help’.

Still, it was nearly impossible for Phillip to relax. The pain was too great and the more pressure that he felt against his side, the worse the pain got.

P.T knew he wasn’t getting through to him, but he knew the one person who could.

P.T looked up at Anne and his heart broke.

Anne was just kneeling there, her eyes unblinking as she watched Phillip.

P.T could only imagine what the poor girl was going through. First she watched her boyfriend get beat up, then she had a gun pointed directly at her, and now she has to watch her boyfriend struggle for his life (again) after taking a bullet meant for her.

“Anne….Anne!!” P.T shouts, trying to get the girls to snap out of her shock.

W.D was still staring at Phillip and trying to process what the hell just happened when he heard P.T shout his sister’s name. He looked over and saw his sister just staring blankly at Phillip, probably in total shock after what she just experienced.

W.D quickly ran over to Anne. He knelt down next to her, placing one around around her shoulders.

She flinched at the contact, but here eyes never left Phillip.

“Anne…” W.D whispered, “Can you hear me?”

Anne didn’t move.

Phillip was still struggling under P.T and Lettie’s grasp, and he knew that the more he struggled, the worse his injuries would become. He needed to hurry.

He grabbed Anne by the shoulders and forcibly turned her around so she was looking straight at him.

“Anne! Snap out of it!” W.D shouted.

Everyone’s attention suddenly shifted to W.D

“You need to snap out of it!! You aren’t helping Phillip by sitting there feeling sorry for yourself!”

Anne finally made eye contact with her brother, but she still wasn’t all there mentally.

“He is going to die if you don’t help him!!” W.D felt terrible being so mean, but he had to get her to snap out of it.

It worked.

Anne’s blank eyes finally came back to life.

“I….I don’t know…what to do” Anne stuttered.

P.T knew this was his change.

“Anne, we need to get Phillip to calm down. He is only hurting himself right now and the only one who can get through to him is you!”

Anne looked back to Phillip, finally able to process what was going on. She had to get him to calm down so they could help him.

She got up and ran to the other side of Phillip so Lettie could have more room. She knelt as close as she could to him, taking his hand into hers and using the other to carcass his face.

“Phillip?”

Phillip didn’t show any signs he heard her.

“Phillip, I need your help! Please help me!” Tears were pouring down her face as she tried desperately to get her boyfriend’s attention.

Phillip was barely hanging onto consciousness. His mind was so overcome by the pain he was feeling he didn’t know anything else.

“Please help me!”

_Anne??_

Phillip suddenly stilled. Anne was in trouble.

“Phillip, please look at me! Open your eyes!!”

Phillip heard how distressed Anne sounded and he wanted nothing more than to see if she was ok.

Slowly, Phillip opened his eyes.

Anne let out an audible gasp as Phillip did as she asked.

P.T and Lettie also let out their breath, not realizing both had been holding it as Anne tried to get Phillip to respond.

Phillip’s eyes were unfocused and glassy. It was obvious he was barely hanging onto whatever consciousness he had left.

Anne’s eyes shot quickly to Lettie, unsure what to do next.

“Tell him we need to put pressure on his wound, it will hurt but he needs to keep still.

Anne looked back to Phillip, whose eyes were already starting to slip closed.

“Phillip!” Anne shouted, panic seeping back in.

Phillip quickly opened his eyes again, this time there was a little more recognition behind his stare.

“That’s it…stay with me ok! Listen, Lettie and P.T are trying to help you. They need to stop your bleeding but it’s going to hurt…”

Anne felt the lump in her throat grow, almost choking off her voice. She swallowed hard and continued.

“…you need to stay as still as you can ok? I will be right here the whole time. Just stay with me ok.

 _Bleeding_?

Phillip had no idea what was going on. He tried to look down at himself but found the movement impossible.

Anne could see that he had no idea what had happened.

“You were shot Phillip…” Anne said fighting not to start sobbing.

“You saved my life…remember? You jumped on top of me when that madman aimed his gun at me. He ended up shooting you….”

Anne had to stop talking before her emotions overcame her.

Phillip struggled to follow what Anne was saying.

_He was shot?_

He didn’t remember being shot. He was sure he would had felt the bullet hit him if he had been.

Anne watched at Phillip, all too slowly, starting understanding what she was saying.

He tried to look down at himself again, but this time he was propped up slightly by a pair of strong hands, allowing him to finally see what was going on.

He saw Lettie pushing down on his side (and omg that still hurt like hell). He was also able to see the red that stained her hands and the panicked look that she had as she watched Phillip for any signs of understanding.

 _Shit...that asshole shot me_.

Phillip dropped his head back to the ground. It was only then that he looked up and saw that the two hands holding his shoulders down was P.T.

P.T looked absolute horrified. Phillip couldn’t remember a time the older man looked as panicked as he did in this moment.

P.T saw Phillip eyes locked on him, and it killed him to see them look so glassy and unforced.

“You’re going to be alright son…just do what Anne says and we will have you back on your feet in no time. Trust us.”

Lettie looked down and saw that Phillip was loosing more blood now, probably from him struggling so much.

She looked at W.D “I need to put something over this wound to control the bleeding!”

W.D waisted no time tearing off his shirt and wadding it into a ball. It wasn’t exactly clean, but in the moment it would have to do.

W.D dropped down next to Lettie, who then looked to Anne, silently telling her to prep Phillip for what they were going to do.

Anne looked anxiously back at Phillip.

“Phillip, we have to put more pressure on your wound to stop the bleeding. It’s going to hurt. Just hang onto my hand and try not to fight them. I’ll be right here with you the whole time.

Phillip gave a slight nod.

Lettie glanced at P.T, making sure he was ready to hold onto Phillip in case he started fighting them again.

Then she looked at W.D, and counted down.

“3…2…1…”

Lettie quickly let up her hands and W.D instantly placed his wadded up shirt on the wound and pressed down hard.

Phillip instantly reacted to the increased pressure on his wound and his whole body tensed up as he screamed out in pain.

To his credit, he didn’t try to fight them off of him, but he would had sat straight up had it not been for P.T holding his shoulders down.

Anne gripped Phillip’s hand as tightly as she could, as if she was literally hanging onto Phillip’s life.

Phillip’s body finally went lax as he laid on the ground panting heavily.

He was only barely able to open his eyes, surprised at how heavy his eyelids were suddenly feeling.

He looked up at Anne and tried desperately to hang onto consciousness, but the edges of his vision were quickly going black.

Anne stroked her hang through Phillip’s hair, repeating over and over that everything was going to be ok. She could see that Phillip was barely hanging onto consciousness and it terrified her.

Despite Phillip’s best efforts he couldn’t stop his eyes from slipping closed. He could hear Anne shouting his name but he didn’t have the strength to open them back up for her.

Phillip silently apologized to Anne for making her so upset before the darkness finally took over.

~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Phillip’s whole body went limp as his eyes slid closed for the final time.

Anne felt herself panicking again, crying out for Phillip to open his eyes.

Lettie suddenly appeared next to her, taking hold of her shoulders.

“He’s still alive, he is just unconscious.” Lettie assured her.

“It’s probably for the best. We have to get him back to camp and I fear the movement would only caused him more pain.”

P.T looked up to Walter, O’Malley and Constantine, who were caught between wanting to help Phillip and making sure the men who beat him up wouldn’t get away.

“You three, stay here and make sure these assholes are tied up and don’t escape. I’ll have someone from camp send word to the police so they can pick them up.”

The three nodded hesitantly. They wanted nothing more than to go with and make sure Phillip was ok, but they also didn’t like the idea of the men who attacked Phillip to slip off into the night.

“W.D, do you think you can help carry Phillip and keep pressure on his wound?”

“I think so” W.D replied.

“Anne and Lettie, go ahead of us and let Charles and the others know what happened and make sure we have medical supplies ready.”

Anne stiffened at the thought of leaving Phillip and went to protest but before she could Lettie quickly took Anne’s hand, and gave it a reassuring squeeze.

“We can’t do anything else for him now, the best thing for him is to make sure we have everything we need at camp to treat him.”.

Anne turned back to Phillip, who looked even more pale than he did a few minutes ago. The only sign of life Anne could see was the slight rise and fall of Phillip’s chest as he breathed, but even that didn’t seem right.

She bent down and kissed Phillip on the forehead, ignore how clammy his skin felt.

“I love you Phillip” she whispered, tears pouring down her cheeks again.

Lettie helped Anne up and the two heading quickly back towards camp.

Walter made sure the shooter was fully unconscious before heading towards P.T and W.D to help them get Phillip up.

Walter held onto the wadded up shirt as W.D switched positions so he could sling one of Phillip’s arms over his neck while P.T did the same with the other arm.

Once W.D. and P.T were in position they gave a quick 3 count before hoisting Phillip off the ground.

Phillip let out a very low groan as his head lolled to the side before falling silent again.

Once the two men had Phillip securely in their arms W.D took his free hand and pushed the wadded shirt against Phillip, allowing Walter to head back and help Constantine and O’Malley tie up the remaining thugs.

W.D and P.T looked at each other, each giving a nod before they started heading back to camp. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OMG thank you all for your support. I never would had imagined getting over 1K hits on a story!
> 
> I truly hope you are enjoying my first fanfic. As always please feel free to leave any constructive criticism. I am not against making changes to this story. 
> 
> Thank you again for your support!!


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay (again). My whole house got hit with a fever so I took it easy last week.  
> I am hoping to make up for it this week by publishing two chapters.  
> I hope you enjoy!!!

Lettie knew that Anne was not okay. As the two rushed back to camp Lettie kept glancing over at Anne to make sure she was still with her.

Anne’s movements were jerky and uncoordinated, something very uncharacteristic for the young trapeze artist, but her face was devoid of all emotions. It was obvious to Lettie that Anne was panicking, but she was so overwhelmed by the whole experience that her body was probably starting to go into shock.

As they continued Anne’s foot found a large rock and, in her hurry, she tripped over it and landed on the ground, much like her first rushed trip to camp when she was looking for help.

Lettie quickly knelt beside her to make sure she was okay. Anne laid on the ground for a few seconds, too overwhelmed by all the emotions she was attempting to keep hidden.

Lettie began to help Anne to her feet, but as Anne got to her knees, she lost it.

 Anne began to cry. It was like the stumble had opened the flood gates that were trying desperately to hold back all the emotions that were quickly piling up inside her.

Lettie felt terrible for her, but she knew they had to keep going. She tried to get Anne to look at her, but Anne appeared totally unaware of her surroundings.

“Anne…” the singer gently shook her trying to snap her out of her hysterics.

When that didn’t work Lettie decided a little tough love was in order. They were in a hurry and Anne had to get it together.

“Anne! Look at me!” the singer barked as she shook Anne harder.

Anne stopped crying and slowly brought her gaze up to Lettie’s.

“Listen girl, I know you are scared, I know this whole night went to shit really fast, but I need you to hold it together just a little bit longer, okay?

Anne just stared at the singer, tears still streaming down her cheeks.

“He’s going to die…” she finally whispered.

“What?!” Lettie asked, shocked by how flat Anne had whispered those words.

“Phillip…. he’s going to die, isn’t he? They shot him and he is going to die and it’s all my fault…”

Anne was unable to control her emotions as she uttered the last sentence, and she started crying again.

“Listen – to – me!” Lettie said, her voice loud but assuring.

“Phillip is not going to die! Do you hear me?” Lettie was looking straight into Anne’s eyes as she spoke.

That boy is too stubborn to die. He loves you too much to leave you. And this is NOT your fault! I don’t ever want to hear you say that again, understood?!”

Anne just stared back into Lettie’s eyes.

“But he…never would gone back…. his tent…it was because of me…. then he pushed me… was pointed at me… why did he push me?!”

Anne was sobbing at this point, her body convulsing as her body tried to catch its breath, but Lettie understood what she was trying to say.

“Stop! Okay?! You have to stop!” Lettie’s tone was more forceful this time. She had to get Anne to snap out of it otherwise the guys were going to catch up and they would have no time to get to camp and make sure everything was ready for them.

“Listen, you HAVE to get it together! You are not helping Phillip by lying on the ground feeling sorry for yourself!!” Lettie inwardly winced at how mean she was sounding.

Anne looked back up at Lettie, stunned at how harsh she was talking to her.

“If you want to help Phillip, we NEED to get back to camp before they do. We need to have someone run to get a doctor, we need to get everything ready so we can help Philip as much as we can before the doctor arrives, but we can’t do that when you are lying on the ground crying. You are stronger than this and right now I need you to show me that you are stronger. You can cry your eyes out afterwards, but right now we have to go!”

Anne glanced back to the ground, suddenly feeling ashamed with how she was behaving. Lettie was right, they didn’t have time for her to feel sorry for herself.

They had to tell the others Phillip was shot. All they knew was Phillip had gotten into a fight and they probably didn’t have any sort of medical supplies out to help with a gunshot wound.

Hell, did they even have medical supplies to treat a gunshot??

“Anne!”

Anne’s eyes shot back up at Lettie, who looked like she was about 2 seconds away from losing it herself. Lettie was just as worried about Phillip as Anne was, but Lettie knew they had to go.

Lettie knew she finally got through to Anne by the change in Anne’s eyes. It was like someone finally turned the lights back on. Lettie reached out and grabbed Anne’s hand and pulled her up off the ground.

“I’m… sorry” Anne said, ashamed at how she had just behaved.

  
Lettie just smiled, “You have nothing to be sorry about.”

Anne gave just a hint of a smile back, grateful that Lettie was the one with her in this moment.

The two turned and continued back towards camp.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this is is a short chapter but I should have the next chapter up no later than tomorrow. Sorry again for the delay. I hope you all enjoy!


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As promised, here is the next chapter. I hope I was able to keep my thoughts coherent. My nieces are visiting from out of state so it's been difficult to get these last two chapters written with 4 children under the age of 8 running around the house.

P.T was inwardly cursing at Phillip’s choice of tent location. Why did it have to be so far away from the others??

The journey back was a slow one. It was hard for the men to carry an unconscious Phillip around their shoulders and, at the same time, trying to apply pressure to his wound so he wouldn’t bleed to death.

The fact that it was pitch black out and the ground was uneven and littered with branches and rocks didn’t help matters either.

Distracted by his thoughts, P.T took a misstep and stumbled, nearly causing all three men to hit the ground.

Thankfully, W.D was strong and surer footed than P.T and was able to keep the three men from falling.

“Damnit” P.T cursed under his breath as he righted himself, unable to hide his frustration with himself.

W.D knew this plan wasn’t going to work.

He looked down at Phillip’s wound. It was still bleeding, but it wasn’t in a way that W.D felt was immediately life threatening.

“This isn’t going to work” he finally said.

“What?” P.T shot back, his anxiety and frustration on full display.

“We need to get him to camp quickly and we can’t do that with how we are carrying him now. I think we would get back faster if I carried him.”

“You can’t carry him _and_ keep pressure on his wound at the same time and there’s no way I could do it and not get in your way”. P.T said.

“I’m barely able to keep pressure on his wound the way we are doing it now. What little pressure I can keep up isn’t worth slowing us down. We need to get him to camp where we can treat this properly.”

W.D was right. P.T knew it. There was no way with what little leverage W.D had that he was putting enough pressure on the wound to make much of a difference.

P.T glanced at Phillip. Even in the dark P.T could see that he was extremely pale, a sheen of sweat covered his face. They had to hurry.

“You’re right. We need to hurry”. P.T admitted.

P.T helped position Phillip so that W.D could scoop him up with both arms. Phillip was completely dead weight in W.D’s arms and suddenly P.T was transported back to the night of the fire - when he had to carry Phillip’s seemingly lifeless body out of his burning circus.

\------------- 

_It was all P.T’s fault. He never should had gone on tour with Jenny Lind. He should had stayed home, where he belonged. Maybe if he wasn’t so ambitious his circus wouldn’t be burning down before his very eyes._

_If he wasn’t so ambitious his apprentice, who he ~~left behind~~ abandoned to take care of everything on his own, wouldn’t had just run into his burning circus to save one of his performers; the one performer he knew Phillip loved, the one performer who just came running up to them safe and unharmed. _

_Now his family was behind him, his precious girls who were always there for him. How he wished they had stayed away in that moment because he didn’t want them to see what he was about to do._

_Charity knew. Once she looked into his eyes, she knew what he was going to do, and he prayed that she would understand._

_He tried to block out his families cries as he sprinted towards the fire._

_He hadn’t even reached the entrance of the circus before the heat became overwhelming. He threw his jacket off and used it as a shield as he continued into the building._

_It was like hell on earth. Flames danced all around him in an almost hypnotic way. Every inch of the building was in flames and P.T knew he didn’t have much time._

_He quickly found it difficult to breath due to the intense heat and the smothering smoke._

_“Phillip!!!” he shouted, trying his best to raise his voice over the roar of the fire._

_“Phillip!!!”_

_He heard nothing._

_He pushed forward, trying to get to the area where the stage was._

_He had made it to one of the isles that lead to the stage before his lungs decided they had enough, and he collapsed to the floor in a coughing fit._

_Shit! Not only was he not going to be able to save Phillip, but he was going to die too._

_As his coughing fit died down, he glanced up and saw a blurry figure ahead of him._

_Phillip!_

_P.T staggered to his feet, and not 15 feet in front of him was Phillip, who was on the ground struggling to get to his feet._

_“Phillip!” P.T screamed as a rush of adrenalin gave him his second wind._

_Phillip looked up and locked eyes with P.T. Phillip was in rough shape, but he was still conscious. Relief washed over P.T_

_They were going to make it._

_Phillip tried once more to get to his feet, but his legs were too shaky, and his vision was starting to blur._

_The intense heat and lack of oxygen was quickly taking a toll on him._

_Instead, he started to crawl towards the isle where P.T was standing._

_P.T saw that Phillip was struggling and decided he needed to get to him otherwise he wasn’t going to make it out._

_As P.T started to stagger towards his fallen apprentice he started to hear deep, loud groans coming from all around him. It made him freeze in place. It sounded like the building itself was groaning in pain._

_Not too long after P.T started to hear loud snapping sounds coming from just above him._

_Shit!!!_

_P.T knew the building was about to come crashing down. He looked back towards Phillip, who hadn’t made much progress._

_“Phillip!!!” P.T screamed, wishing he could will his friend to get up onto his feet and run towards him._

_Phillip glanced up towards P.T once more, only this time he was barely hanging onto consciousness._

_P.T was about to make a dash for the young man when all hell broke loose._

_A thunderous crashing sound came from above their heads._

_P.T looked up just in time to see the entire roof starting to collapse._

_P.T dove behind the back row of chairs, trying his best to protect himself from the falling debris._

_Chunks of burning wood beams and bricks were raining on top of them. P.T curled up as much as he could, silently apologizing to his family for being a complete and utter fool the last few months._

_How he wished he could say sorry to them. Say sorry to his girls for not being there the last few months. Say sorry to Charity for abandoning her and putting her second to his ambitions._

_Hot embers were landing on top of P.T and he tried his best to brush them off, so his clothes didn’t catch fire._

_If the building wasn’t going to crush him to death, the flames were going to finish the job._

_What felt like an eternity only lasted about 10 seconds. Suddenly the deafening crashing sounds stopped and all that was left was the sounds of the fire crackling all around him._

_P.T slid out from under the chairs and slowly pulled himself up onto his feet._

_His vision danced for a second as he fought to catch his balance._

_What he saw in front of him made his heart drop._

_The stage was completely littered with burning debris and Phillip was nowhere to be seen._

_Panic set in and suddenly he was rushing towards the last place he saw Phillip._

_P.T’s vision blurred again and he suddenly found himself stumbling onto the ground._

_As he looked up, he saw him._

_Not 3 feet in front of him was his apprentice. Phillip was lying on his back, his face tilted towards P.T, unmoving._

_Somehow most of the debris managed to miss the young man, but there was still a large beam that laid across the young man’s chest._

_P.T staggered towards Phillip and dropped down next to him. He froze as he looked at the young man. Phillip didn’t even look like he was alive. P.T didn’t know what to do._

_Another loud snap from one of the remaining beams from above got P.T to snap out of it._

_The beam that laid across Phillip wasn’t on fire, but it was still giving off an orange glow that most wood does after it has been on fire. P.T grabbed the one end, hissing as the hot wood burned his hands, and lifted it off Phillip before tossing it to the side._

_P.T didn’t waist anymore time. He scoped Phillip up in his arms, ignoring the way his vision was starting to darken around the edges, and willed his legs to run out towards the doors._

\---------- 

“Barnum!”

P.T shook himself from the terrible memory.

“You okay?”

P.T looked up at W.D, who was standing there with Phillip in his arms, looking at him with concern.

“Yeah…sorry…let’s go”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Lettie and Anne finally arrived back at camp. They headed straight for Lettie’s tent where they hoped that Charles was waiting with some medical supplies.

Sure enough, Charles and a few of the other performers were waiting when they got there.

Charles jumped up from the edge of Lettie’s cot.

“Where’s Phillip?!” he asked anxiously when he didn’t see anyone else enter with the two girls.

Lettie decided it was best if she did the explaining.

“W.D and Barnum have him. Look, things are worse than we thought. We need to get a doctor here now!”

“A doctor? Why? What happened?” Charles asked.

Lettie ignored Charles and ran straight to one of the male acrobats.

“Do you remember where Dr. Smith lives? The little house just a few blocks from here?” Lettie asked, praying the acrobat knew who she was talking about.

“You mean the one that helped Gloria a while back when she twisted her ankle?”

Yes! Him! Run to his house and tell him that Phillip Carlyle was shot and we need him to get here as quickly as possible.”

“He was _what_?!” 

  
“Did you say shot?!”

“Shot?!”

Charles and the others were clearly shocked at what Lettie just said, but Lettie kept going.

“Go…now!! Hurry back” Lettie said urgently as she guided the acrobat out the tent door.

It took as second for the young man to grasp what Lettie had just told him, but once he did, he took off as fast as he could run towards the direction of where the doctor lived.

“Lettie, what the hell is going on?!”

Charles tone was bordering on angry as fear started to grow rapidly inside him.

Convinced that the acrobat was heading in the right direction Lettie turned back to the rest of the group.

“I don’t have much time to explain, but a group of men jumped Phillip by his tent. Phillip seemed to have fought them off well enough, but he was beaten up pretty badly…”

Lettie paused and glanced at Anne, who was just standing there in complete silence.

Anne looked up into Lettie’s eyes and nodded as if to tell the singer that it was okay to continue.

“…once we got there W.D and the others made quick work of the remaining men, but one of them had a pistol….none of us saw it until he was pointing it towards Phillip…”

Lettie’s voice hitched as the lump in her throat threatened to expose just how upset she was.

The others were hanging on Lettie’s every word, afraid of what she was going to say next.

Lettie took a deep breath to settle her nerves.

“…it all happened so fast. He pulled the trigger and we all thought…we all thought Anne was shot, but he ended up hitting Phillip…”

Lettie heard Anne’s breath hitch, as if she was fighting back a sob, and decided it was best to end the explanation there.

Charles, for once, stood there in stunned silence along with the two other performers. Sure, the troop has met it’s fair share of trouble in the past, but none of them have ever been shot at, or even stabbed.

“What do we have in the way of bandages and disinfectant??” Lettie asked, determined to snap the group out of their shock.

“Oh, yeah…umm yes I was able to find some bandages. Povlo had a bottle of vodka so we grabbed that to use as disinfectant. We put it over on your bedside table.” Charles said as he gestured towards Lettie’s small table.

Lettie rushed over and looked over what they had. Lettie wasn’t sure how big of a wound Phillip had, but she was pretty sure they could at least keep the bleeding to a minimum with what they had.

“This is good…this should work, thanks Charles” Lettie said.

Lettie glanced at her bed and started throwing off all the pillows until just the bedsheet remained.

Then they all stood there in silence. Charles paced back and forth near the tent door, Lettie stood with Anne, holding her and stroking her hair gently in order to keep the young girl calm.

The other two performers stood outside the tent keeping an eye out for P.T, W.D and Phillip.

They weren’t waiting 5 minutes before Lettie and the others heard the two performers shout “They’re here!!”

Lettie burst through her tent door and saw as the two performers reached W.D and P.T and helped lead them towards Lettie’s tent.

Lettie held the tent flap open and watched as W.D, who was now carrying Phillip, rushed into the tent followed immediately by P.T and the two other performers.

When Lettie reentered her tent W.D had placed Phillip on her bed and Charles was standing by the table ready to hand W.D whatever supplies he needed.

Lettie turned her attention to Anne, who was still standing in the corner of the tent as if she was frozen in place.

Lettie made her way over to Anne and held onto her shoulders to comfort her. If Anne had any idea that Lettie was there, she didn’t show it.

W.D was now sitting on the edge of Lettie’s bed and was quickly removing Phillip’s shirt so they could get a better look at the wound.

It was only now that W.D was able to fully take in how bad Phillip looked. Under the glow of the moon a lot of the details were hidden, but now that they were in a very well-lit tent, W.D saw just how bloody Phillip’s shirt was, and just how bruised and dirty the young ringmaster was.

P.T stood just over W.D’s shoulders and was also stunned by how bad Phillip actually looked.

Phillip’s face was terribly pale, which didn’t help make the blossoming bruises that lined his eyes, cheeks and forehead look any better. The dirt that was smeared across his face only made the contrast to how pale he was that much more apparent.

There was an ugly gash right at Phillip’s hairline where a small trickle of blood had run down the side of his face.

As soon as W.D got Phillip’s shirt off P.T couldn’t help the gasp that escaped his lips.

Anne, who up until now stood unmoving, turned her face and hid it against Lettie’s chest as Lettie struggled to get over her initial shock.

W.D hissed sympathetically when he saw how bruised Phillip was.

  
There was the obvious gunshot wound, which was still actively bleeding, that sat right at Phillip’s waist on the left side.

W.D gestured for Charles to give him some of the cotton bandages so he could place pressure on the wound.

As he applied pressure to the wound W.D took in just how bad Phillip’s right side was looking.

There were deep bruises that were forming all up and down the right side of Phillip’s rib cage. Judging by how severe the bruising was looking, W.D wouldn’t be surprised if a few of Phillip’s ribs were broken.

P.T had come to the same conclusion as W.D

P.T felt his ears get hot at the thought of what that drunken animal put Phillip through, and it took all the self-control he had not to storm out of the tent and take care of that monster personally.

After a few minutes W.D decided it was time to try to clean the wound out.

It was one thing to control the bleeding, but the real obstacle was keeping any infection from forming.

He saw the bottle of vodka on the nightstand and grabbed it. He handed it to Charles who quickly removed the cork.

He lifted the bandages off Phillip and poured some of the vodka onto the wound.

It was at this moment that Phillip decided to open his eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am planning on continuing this story tomorrow and Monday since I have Monday off of work. I want to try to get this story wrapped up in the next week or two (I'm afraid that my story is becoming longer than it should be)  
> As always, please leave any constructive feedback in the comments. If you are enjoying this story please let me know! I have a few other ideas floating around in my head that I want to try to work on next, but if my writing isn't all that interesting I might hold off on writing more stories.  
> Thanks to everyone who has taken time to read this story, and to those who were kind enough to leave a Kudos!! It means a lot to me!!


	15. (update)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> UPDATE: I was only able to edit the first 4 chapters of the story, so if you notice slight discrepancies from the first 4 chapters and the remaining just know they will be fixed. There shouldn't be many that are obvious, but if there are I will be correcting them in the coming days.

It is 1:30am and I am still fighting off whatever plague I caught at the school I work for. When I cannot sleep, I like to write.  
Instead of moving forward with a third chapter this extended weekend, I am going back to chapter 1 and re-reading everything I have up to this point.  
I am usually not one to re-read my work because I am overly critical and I fear I might just delete the whole story out of embarrassment, but I have to admit that the hits and kudos I have received on this story have vastly exceeded my expectations.  
If you all are anything like me, I LOVE to reread my favorite fanfics. Since you all have shown me more support than I could ever dream of, I feel it is my responsibility to make sure this story is the very best that I can create, and that involves me sucking up my insecurities and rereading it and making some necessary changes so that it reads the best I can get it to read.

If I have the time today I will begin working on the next chapter, but I don't know if I will be able to finish it before the end of the day. If a new chapter isn't posted by the end of today just know that I will probably have a good portion of it completed so that I can finish it up this coming weekend. 

I just wanted to give you this little update so you know where the story stands at the moment. As I am writing this I have already edited and reposted chapter one, and I will be starting my edits to chapter two as soon as I put up this update.  
And not to worry, I am not changing any aspects of the story, I am just making some grammatical changes and possibly tweaking the way I describe certain details of the story. 

As always, thank you so much for your support. I know I keep saying it, but your support has far surpassed what I thought I could possibly get from my little head-cannon story.


	16. (Update)

I just wanted to give a quick update. I have not given up on this story. My daughter was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease and has been sick the past few weeks.   
Instead of trying to shoehorn time to rush the next chapter out, I’m going to wait until I have adequate time to write it, but that will have to wait until after my daughter is over this current flare. Hopefully she will be feeling better soon.   
Thanks again for all the support! Hope to have the next chapter up for you all next weekend 🤞🏻


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I want to apologize for the delay in this story. Its been a crazy few weeks but I have the whole week off of work so I am planning on finishing up the story sometime this week.  
> I still have to go back and finish editing what I have already written, but for now I am going to focus on finishing up the story before I go back and edit.

Phillip’s consciousness quickly returned to him in a disorientating flash of burning hot pain.

The burning sensation only grew worse as the fog of unconsciousness quickly faded away His eyes immediately shot open as his mind desperately tried to figure out where this new source of pain was coming from.  

Maybe it was due to the pain, or maybe it was because of the blurry figures hovering above him, but suddenly Philip’s mind went into a very panicked fight-or-flight mode.

W.D barely had enough time to process that Phillip was now staring directly up at him before Phillip suddenly sat up.

W.D fell back slightly and everyone else let out an audible gasp, all startled by Phillip’s sudden movement.

The second Phillip sat up he let out a painful yelp and clutched his side protectively as the pain made him double over.

W.D, who was still stunned by the suddenness of everything, instinctively reached for Phillip’s shoulders in an attempt to get the young man to lie back down.

“Whoa Phillip…you gotta lie back down” W.D said as he reached out towards Phillip.

Phillip’s eyes shot up towards W.D, but he didn’t see W.D.

With his vision blurred all he saw was a shadowy figure reaching out for him and suddenly he was transported back to the moment where he was fighting for his life from a bunch of angry thugs who wanted nothing more than to end it.

W.D saw the fear in his eyes as Phillip looked up at him. W.D suspected that Phillip had no idea where he was or who he was looking at.

What W.D did not expect was Phillip to haul off and punch him as hard as he could.

P.T had no way to prepare himself for what he just witnessed.

In one moment, W.D was cleaning Phillip’s wounds, and in the next Phillip had shot up into a sitting position, which startled P.T so much he let out a gasp.

Phillip had seemed dead to the world just seconds before and now he was sitting straight up, eyes wide and panicked.

P.T watched in stunned silence as W.D attempted to calm the young man down.

When Phillip finally looked up at W.D, P.T knew that his young partner had no idea where he was or who he was looking at. All P.T cold see in Phillips eyes was blind fear.

That’s when Phillip took a wild swing at W.D, landing a solid punch to the man’s face.

The awkward angle that W.D was sitting/kneeling on the bed caused him to quickly lose his balance and he landed hard on the ground, nearly knocking P.T off his feet in the process.

Phillip, who was already half doubled over as he sat up in the bed, let out another yelp of pain as he nearly fell out of the bed, the momentum from his punch throwing his already poor balance off completely.

P.T glanced down at W.D and saw that he was more stunned than hurt. His attention quickly switched to Phillip, who was struggling to regain his balance and not fall completely out of the bed.

P.T quickly stumbled over W.D to get to Phillip, who was quickly losing his battle to with gravity to stay on the bed.

P.T decided to climb behind Phillip and grab him from under his arms to hoist him back onto the bed. With how disoriented Phillip appeared P.T wouldn’t be surprised if Phillip tried to take a swing at him as well.

Phillip was trying to fight off the debilitating wave of dizziness and pain that resulted from him punching whoever it was that was trying to get to him when he was suddenly grabbed from behind.

Once again Phillip’s mind went into a blind panic and he began to fight against whoever it was who was attempting to restrain him. Blurry figures started to appear in front of him and he knew that if he didn’t get away these people were going to kill him.

By the time W.D had recovered from the shock of being punched in the face by a clearly panicked Phillip, he saw P.T climb behind Phillip and attempt to drag him back into bed.

This caused Phillip to properly freak out and he started to fight hard against P.T.

W.D quickly got back to his feet and tried to help P.T restrain Phillip. There was no way all this movement wasn’t causing more harm to Phillip’s already injured body, and they needed the young ringmaster to calm down.

Charles joined W.D in attempts to get Phillip to stop fighting, but all that seemed to do was panic him more.

Lettie, who was still holding a very distraught Anne, saw what the others were failing to see. She knew that, in Phillip’s mind, he was still fighting those men who ambushed him by his tent, and the more P.T and the others crowded him, the more panicked Phillip was becoming. It really shouldn’t had come as a surprise to anyone considering how suddenly Phillip woke up and what he had just experienced.

“He doesn’t know who you are!” Lettie shouted finally. This caused everyone in the room to stop and look over at her. Phillip continued to fight in P.T’s arms.

“What?!” P.T yelled back, trying hard to restrain Phillip without hurting him further.

Lettie rushed over and dragged Charles and W.D back away from Phillip.

“He doesn’t know where he is! He probably thinks he is still fighting off the thugs who jumped him!”

As Anne listened to Lettie, she realized that the singer was right; Phillip had no recognition in his eyes as he looked around the room. All she saw was panic.

Quickly, she rushed to Phillip’s side and dropped to one knee, so she was face to face with him.

P.T kept a firm old on Phillip as he continued to struggle against his grip, seemingly unaware that Anne was now in front of him.

Anne cupped Phillip’s face in her hands as she started to talk.

“Phillip? Baby it’s me…it’s Anne. Baby you’re okay now…you’re safe. We aren’t going to hurt you.”

As Anne spoke, she used her thumbs to gently stroke Phillip’s cheeks, taking note at how hot he felt.

Everyone watched on, seemingly holding their breath as Anne spoke, waiting for any sign of recognition to come from Phillip.

“You don’t have to fight anymore. It’s over”.

A small part of Phillip’s consciousness latched onto Anne’s words. Somewhere in his mind he knew he recognized that voice.

As his mind focused more on the calming voice, he became more and more aware of his surroundings. He wasn’t outside anymore but inside, with the warm glow of candles surrounding him.

He also realized he wasn’t on the ground anymore, but on a bed (well, partway on a bed anyway).

Finally, the haziness that had caused him so much confusion was finally lifted away, and he was finally able to focus on the face that was in front of him.’

“…Anne” Phillip finally said, his voice sounding tired and pained.

A collective sigh could be heard around the room as everyone let out a breath they didn’t realize they were holding.

Tears spilled down Anne’s cheeks at the sound of her name.

“Yes baby, it’s me, your safe now.”

“You with us Phil?” P.T asked cautiously.

Phillip only then realized that P.T was behind him and he was the one that was currently holding him up.

“Yeah…I think so...” Phillip said tiredly. The adrenaline from his sudden panic attack was starting to wear off.

P.T gave a knowing nod towards W.D, who took that as his cue to step forward in order to help get Phillip back into bed.

“We’re going to help you lie back down, okay?” P.T said.

Phillip gave a slight nod in response, his eyelids already feeling heavy.

Together P.T and W.D carefully guided Phillip back into bed.

Phillip screwed his eyes tightly and groaned painfully through gritted teeth as he was laid back down.  

As soon as the two men were done Anne scooped up Phillip’s hand and cradled it up against her face.

Lettie stepped forward and sat on the edge of the bed.

“I need to check your wound” she said softly.

Phillip cracked his eyes open just enough to make eye contact, letting her know that he heard her.

Lettie gently peeled back Phillip’s unbuttoned shirt from the gunshot wound.

The wound was bleeding again, so Lettie reached over for a clean bandage and the bottle of vodka.

Instead of pouring the vodka directly on the wound Lettie poured it onto the bandage.

“I have to put this over your wound now. Lettie said.

“I’m not going to lie, it’s going to hurt like hell, but I need you to stay as still as possible okay?” Lettie’s words were full of sympathy for her young ringmaster. She knew he had to be in terrible pain and what she was about to do was only going to hurt him more.

Phillip opened his eyes a little wider this time, his eyes clouded with both fear and pain.

“I’ll be right here the whole time” Anne said, and she squeezed his hand to reassure him that she was still there.

Phillip tensed up a little before saying “…do it”.

Lettie gently pressed the bandage down onto the wound.

Phillip’s body stiffened immediately as he sharply inhaled at the sudden burning sensation that overtook his senses.

He squeezed Anne’s hand tightly as he fought to breath through the pain. It was as if every pain receptor in his body was on fire.

Lettie was gentle as she applied firm pressure to the wound. After a minute or two, the pain started to let up.

Phillip sank back into the bed, his breath coming out in tired pants.

His whole face was drenched in sweat at this point, the exhaustion clear on his face.

Charles had brought a bucket of water back to the caravan while Lettie was cleaning his wound.

With the wound property bandaged up Anne took one of the remaining clean rags and dipped it into the cool water. She rang the rag out before draping it across Phillip’s forehead.

Phillip shivered slightly as the rag touched his hot forehead.

Anne just sat quietly next to Phillip, one hand holding the rag on his head, the other holding his hand.

Lettie had stepped outside so she could finally wash the blood off her hands and so she could allow herself a moment alone to process everything that happened that night.

For as strong as she acted, the night shook her to her core and as she attempted to wash Phillip’s blood off her hands, she found herself fighting to maintain her composure.

P.T stood right behind Anne and watched the two in silence. W.D joined him a minute later. Both men could hardly believe that just a few hours ago they were all sitting around the fire, drinking and having a good time. It felt like a lifetime ago to where they were now.

“...some night huh?”

Anne’s head shot up along with W.D and P.T’s

Phillip’s eyes were still closed, but no one missed the slight grin on Phillip’s face after he spoke.

Anne just stared at him for a second before letting out a nervous, yet relieved giggle.

“yeah…some night” she said as she squeezed his hand a little tighter.

P.T couldn’t help but verbally scoffed at the exchange as he looked over at W.D as if to say, ‘can you believe he is still trying to crack jokes?’

Just then Lettie rushed back through the door. The three looked up to see Lettie ushering in a man wearing a dark coat, bowler hat and carrying a large club style black bag.

P.T instantly recognized the man as Dr. Smith, the same doctor who would often make house calls to the circus when one of the performers would get injured or ill.

W.D and P.T stepped to the side to give Dr. Smith some room.

“So, your young circus performer tells me that I had to rush over here right away because Mr. Carlyle was shot.” Dr. Smith says dryly as he steps up to the bed where Phillip was lying.

Anne shuffles further to the side but does not let go of Phillip’s hand.

The doctor puts his bad down to the side.  
“Would someone mind getting me a chair?” he asks. W.D is the one who nods before rushing out the door.

Dr. Smith takes a seat on the edge of the bed and starts to visually examine Phillip.

He takes in all the bruising across his rib cage and notes that he is probably dealing with several broken ribs.

He sees the bruising and laceration on his face and forehead but knows those will have to wait until he deals with the most serious injury.

He turns his attention to the bandage that is covering what he can only assume is the gunshot wound.

Dr. Smith noticed how quick and shallow Phillip’s breathing was.

“Mr. Carlyle, you still with us?” Dr. Smith asked

Phillip, whose eyes were still screwed shut, manages to pant out “…still here doc”.

Dr. Smith turned to address everyone who was still in the caravan.

W.D quickly returned, chair in hand.

Dr. Smith took the chair and gave a thankful nod towards W.D.

“I’m going to have to ask for everyone to step outside while I work on Mr. Carlyle.” Dr. Smith said as he positioned the chair next to the bed.

Lettie, W.D, Charles and a few other performers did as the doctor instructed and headed out the door. The only two who stayed were P.T and Anne.

Dr. Smith knew better than to tell P.T what to do; the stubborn ringmaster was never one to listen to directions.

He directed his next comments to Anne.

“Ma’am, you really should wait outside…”

“I’m not going anywhere” Anne said flatly, her eyes never leaving Phillip’s.

“…best…not to…argue with her…doc” Phillip said between pants.

Dr. Smith just sighed. “So be it.” he says in defeat.

He grabbed his medical bag before taking a seat in the chair W.D provided.

“I need to remove this bandage and take a look at the wound” he says to Phillip.  
Slowly he peels back the bandage to reveal the gunshot wound.

“I see you’ve tried to clean the wound...nice work” Dr. Smith comments almost to himself as he examines the wound. He glances up to see the now half empty bottle of vodka on the table.

“Whiskey would had been better” he says, “but at least you thought to clean it out”.

He goes back to visually examining the wound.

“The tissue damage appears to be minimal, which is good. The bleeding isn’t too severe either”

Dr. Smith turns to P.T “Did you check to see if the bullet went all the way through?”

P.T stilled. _Did they check?_

Now that he thought about it, he didn’t remember seeing any blood on Phillip’s back when he was trying to restrain him. He was pretty sure he would had noticed an exit wound if it existed.

“He was sitting up right before you got here. I was behind him trying to get him to lie back down. I didn’t see any exit wound anywhere along his back.” P.T answered.

“Thought not” the doctor replied. “I suspect the caliber is around a .32. A lot of men around here carry .32 revolvers.”

He paused as he reached for his bag.

“Could you grab me that bucket of water young lady?” he asked Anne.

As Anne got up to grab the water the doctor continued.

The good thing about smaller caliber bullets is they do less tissue damage so the chance that Mr. Carlyle here has serious internal injuries from the bullet are low…” he pauses just long enough to take the bucket of water from Anne before continuing.

“…however, because they are less powerful, they seldom exit out the body on their own, which means I have to go in and take the bullet out.”

Both P.T and Anne paled at the realization that they were going to have to watch Dr. Smith try to dig a bullet out of Phillip’s side.

Dr. Smith takes out a wrapping with some medical instruments inside, and what appears to be a bar of soap.

He grabs the bucket and starts washing his hands with the soap.

“Lye soap…” he says to Anne and P.T as he holds up the bar for them to look at.

“I read about this doctor, Dr. Goodfellow, who lives in Tombstone, Arizona. He apparently sees his far share of bullet wounds and he apparently has quiet a bit of luck treating them.”

As Dr. Smith talks, he removes a medical bandage from his bag and starts lathering it up with the soap.

“I read that he uses Lye soap specifically to disinfect his hands and his instruments before he goes digging for the bullets. He also uses the soap to disinfect the wound.”

He turns to Phillip before continuing.

“I have to clean this wound really well before I go digging for that bullet.” he says to Phillip almost apologetically. This gets Phillip to open his eyes slightly.

“Typically, I would give you something for the pain, but I suspect you have a concussion judging by the gash on your head.” Dr Smith gestures up towards Phillip’s hairline where he noticed the gash earlier.

“No doubt you found yourself in quite a fight earlier, so there’s no knowing what other injuries might be hiding besides the obvious ones. Any paid medication I give you will only mask other symptoms I need to know about.”

Both P.T and Anne found themselves stunned at the sudden realization that Phillip would have to endure this procedure without any pain medication.

Phillip must had understood what the doctor was telling him too, because he became very focused on Dr. Smith as if he was desperately trying to remember everything he was being told.

“I’m sorry Mr. Carlyle, but this isn’t going to be a pleasant experience.”

Phillip quickly glanced up towards Anne, who was still next holding his hand next to him. P.T stood just inches from her. They both looked horrified, but they were both still there and Phillip knew he was in good hands with Dr. Smith.

“Do what you got to do doc” Phillip finally answered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again thank you for your patience. I am not sure how well this chapter will read. I got a bad case of the flu on Thursday and I still have a fever today (Monday). Today is the best I have felt all weekend so I wanted to get a chapter out. I hope it at least makes sense.  
> I tried to pull some ideas from actual historic people/procedures without getting too detailed. The dates might not match up exactly but there are close enough to make sense to the story.  
> Hope you all enjoy!


	18. Chapter 18

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “I’m sorry Mr. Carlyle, but this isn’t going to be a pleasant experience.”   
> Phillip quickly glanced up towards Anne, who was still next holding his hand next to him. P.T stood just inches from her. They both looked horrified, but they were both still there and Phillip knew he was in good hands with Dr. Smith.  
> “Do what you got to do doc” Phillip finally answered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello all,  
> Sorry for the long delay publishing this chapter. Work is in high gear right now (all of our state testing is going on this month) so all of my free time was eaten up. Thankfully I have some time today to work on this chapter so I hope you enjoy!!

Dr. Smith gave him a sympathetic grin. “I’m going to be as gentle as I possibly can”.

The doctor took the bandage, which was now lathered in soap, and started to scrub around the wound.

Phillip hissed in pain as he screwed his eyes tight and squeezed Anne’s hand, but he didn’t move.

After the doctor was done cleaning the wound out, he reached over and grabbed a skinny, long pair of forceps and a scalpel from the wrapping. He started washing them in the Lye soap.

“Mr. Barnum”

It took P.T a second to tear his worried gaze from Phillip to the doctor.

“…ask that young negro performer of yours to step back inside please.”

P.T wasn’t sure why the doctor needed W.D to come back inside, but he did was he was told and a moment later a very confused looking W.D was standing inside next to P.T

“I need to ask one of you to stand by Mr. Carlyle’s head while the other stands near his feet. I need him to stay as still as possible so I can remove the bullet, but without the help of medication he is going to need some help staying still”.

P.T and W.D glanced at each other for a second, a mixture of fear and worry washing over their faces.

P.T immediately walked to the head of the bed and knelt behind it, leaving W.D to stand at the foot of the bed. It was there that he could see his sister perched right next to the doctor, still holding Phillip’s hand. She was quietly talking to Phillip while the doctor finished cleaning his instruments.

W.D knew his sister loved Phillip. In the beginning W.D had warned Anne not to fall for a rich white man. Phillip seemed different then the rest, but he still did not trust him. Of course, the more that W.D tried to convince his sister to stay away from Phillip, the closer the two seemed to get. Lettie had told W.D to stay out of it and let the two of them find their own way, but W.D didn’t want to see his little sister get hurt.

In the end he did as Lettie asked, and he watched as Phillip and Anne both struggled with how they felt and what society expected of them. It upset W.D to see his sister get hurt, but he had to allow her to learn this lesson the hard way, that society was never going to allow a relationship like theirs to exist. He could tell her all day long that it wasn’t going to work but she would had been too stubborn to listen.

Then the fire came, and W.D ended up being the one who learned a big lesson. He never imagined that Phillip would run back into that inferno looking for Anne. Phillip didn’t even think twice about it. After the fire, while Phillip was still in the hospital, he saw how torn up his sister was. She never left Phillip’s side, she didn’t care how many dirty looks she got. She was eaten up by the guilt of turning Phillip away when he had apparently made his feelings known to her. W.D tried telling Anne that she did nothing wrong, that she was only trying to save Phillip from the harsh realities he knew nothing about, but Anne wouldn’t hear it. She clearly loved him back and the thought of never being able to tell Phillip that was killing her.

Thankfully, Phillip made a full recovery. W.D had taken Phillip to the side before the start of their first show in the tent and told him how wrong he was to judge him so harshly. He told Phillip there wasn’t a man alive who he trusted more with his sister than him and that he gave his full blessing for the two of them to be together.

W.D wasn’t a fool. He knew the world wouldn’t accept them and they would still have to go through hardships, but he knew that their love was real, and that no matter what obstacle they came across they would overcome it.

Of course, W.D never thought that they would be were they are now. His heart broke for his sister as he watched her try to put on a brave face even though she was terrified.

W.D was snapped back to the present when the doctor began to speak.

“I’m going to need you two to hold him down while I am getting the bullet out. The better you can keep him still, the quicker it will go.”

The doctor turned his attention back to Phillip.

“Mr. Carlyle, I need to make a small incision on either side of the wound. Its going to hurt but please try your best to stay still. As soon as I am done, I am going to use my forceps to retrieve the bullet. Again, it’s important for you to try to stay as still as possible. I am going to try to go as quick as I can.”

Anne moved so she was sitting at the head of the bed. She saw her brother and P.T ready themselves to hold Phillip down and how worried both looked. She glanced back down at Phillip, who had opened his eyes when the doctor began to talk. He looked so tired and so scared. Anne thought she might just break down again, but she knew she had to stay strong for him.

She leaned over and started running her hand through his hair.

“It’s going to be alright, I am right here and I am not going anywhere” she said as she squeezed his hand that she was still holding.

Phillip didn’t look up at her, but he slowly squeezed her hand back to let her know that he heard her.

The doctor looked up at everyone and gave a nod letting them know he was about to begin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this is a short chapter but the next one is ready to post. It just felt right cutting it off here and continuing the story with the next chapter.  
> Thanks to everyone who has supported me through this story. I know the updates are slow to come but I promise I will complete this story.


	19. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As promised, here is the continuation of the previous chapter.

The doctor quickly made a small incision to the right side of the bullet wound. Phillip’s body tensed up immediately which caused P.T to press down on Phillip’s shoulders while W.D pressed down on his legs. Despite it all, Phillip didn’t thrash around.

Anne kept running her hand through his hair and holding his one hand.

“Breathe baby, you gotta breath” she said when she noticed that Phillip was holding his breath.

The doctor quickly made the second incision and then switched out the scalpel for the forceps.

“Hold him tight” the doctor said right before he inserted the forceps into the wound.

The second the doctor inserted the forceps Phillip’s body tensed up even more. He let out a cry of pain before clamping his jaw tightly closed.

Anne quickly took her hand from Phillip’s hair and used it to hold his one arm down. “It’s almost over baby….just keep breathing…..it’s almost over” was all Anne could think to say, but Phillip wasn’t hearing her anymore.

All Phillip knew was the blinding pain that exploded on his side and was shooting throughout his whole body.

Unconsciously he began to push away with his legs, but W.D’s strong arms kept them in place.

P.T looked down and saw the doctor insert the forceps deeper into the wound and for a second he felt like he was going to pass out. It was only when Phillip began to struggle against his hold that he was able to refocus his attention and ignore the nauseating feeling that washed over him.

P.T pressed harder onto Phillips shoulders, which only seemed to make the young man struggle more.

“It’s almost over son, just hang in there a little bit longer” P.T said to reassure himself as much as he was trying to reassure Phillip.”

Phillip was screaming through clenched teeth the whole time, completely unaware of anything but the blinding pain. Suddenly he felt the pain starting to lessen as his consciousness quickly began to slip away. It was in that moment that he thought he heard the voices of P.T and Anne, but the darkness overtook him before he could figure out what they were saying.

Phillip’s body suddenly went slack and the screaming quickly tapered off into silence. W.D, Anne and P.T quickly panicked.

“Philip?!” P.T called out.

Anne just looked at the doctor, eyes wide with fear.

“Oh good, he finally passed out” the doctor said without even looking up from what he was doing. “It’s for the best, this is a very painful procedure and now I can finish without Mr. Carlyle moving around too much”.

Anne was taken back by how calloused the doctor seemed, but she didn’t have much time to think before the doctor said, “Got it!”

Everyone looked at the doctor before looking down at the forceps he was slowly backing out of the wound.

After what seemed like eternity the doctor finally removed the forceps, and in its teeth was the small, metallic bullet.

The doctor quickly put the forceps down and grabbed a new bandage and lathered it up with the soap. He scrubbed the wound, which was now freely bleeding, before reaching for the wrappings and pulling out a needle and thread. He quickly sutured the wound closed and grabbed more gauze to place over the wound.

With P.T and W.D’s help they rolled Phillip so the doctor could bandage the wound.

Once done they laid Phillip back down and Anne was finally able to take hold of his hand again. Phillip’s face and hair were covered in sweat and he was still very pale. His breaths were still coming out in short, quick gasps which told Anne that Phillip was still in pain despite being unconscious.

The doctor began to examine the other wounds on Phillip’s body.

He noted that Phillip had broken quite a few ribs which explained why Phillip’s breathing was shallow. He didn’t think the broken ribs punctured his lungs, just that they were causing a lot of pain.

The doctor then examined the cut along Phillip’s hairline. As he was moving his head he felt the knot that had formed on the back of Phillip’s head. He tilted his head to the side so he could examine it.

“He definitely has a concussion” the doctor stated. “This knot on the back of his head is quite large and I can feel a decent sized gash that will require a stitch or two to close.

The doctor looked up and was meeting by three pairs of very worried eyes.

“I wouldn’t worry too much. Mr. Carlyle was able to follow along with what I was saying for the most part, so I don’t believe his concussion is severe, but we will need to keep an eye on him. Sadly, that means I cannot give him any pain meds when he wakes up, but seeing how much he has gone through I suspect he will be out of it for the next few days.

The doctor grabbed a bandage and began scrubbing all the cuts and scrapes that covered Phillip’s body. He threw a few stitches on the back of his head where he had hit his head on the ground and bandaged his head so that the cut by his hairline was also covered.

When the doctor was finished Phillip looked a little better. He was still pale and his breathing still seemed very shallow, but all of his wounds were cleaned up and the more severe ones bandaged up.

Anne was sitting on Phillip’s bed, just staring at his face and holding his hand like she did after the fire.

The doctor was finished packing up his bag and was greeted by a very worried looking P.T and W.D

“Mr. Carlyle is going to need time to heal, so that means he needs to stay in bed for a few weeks. I’m most concerned about infection taking hold and those broken ribs causing more damage than they already have, so make sure to keep his wounds clean and keep him from moving around too much.  
The wound should heal in about a month, but the ribs are going to take about three months to fully heal. He might tell ya he is fine, but he is not allowed to do anything strenuous until I clear him.”

“When can we move him? I want to take him to my home so he can recover” P.T asked

“Normally I would no advise moving a patient in his condition for a few weeks, but if you are careful you can move him tonight seeing that he is already out cold. I’d prefer a proper bedroom for him to recover in, no offence” he gave a look towards W.D and Anne, knowing that this was their home.

“Typically, I would suggest he stay at the hospital, but so long as he doesn’t develop a fever or has difficulty breathing, he should be fine to recover at home. If he does develop a fever or his breathing becomes worse, I want you to get me right away.”

“Yes sir” P.T answered.

“I’m going to leave some extra bandages and the Lye soap so you can continue cleaning his wounds. Send for me if you notice the words are starting to become infected.”

The doctor looked at them and took in how exhausted they all appeared.

“You all need to get some rest too. I know tonight has been a difficult one, but if you don’t rest you won’t be any good to your friend”.

With that the doctor headed out.

Almost immediately Lettie, Charles and the others made their way inside.

“How is he?” Charles asked.

“Unconscious for now, but the doctor says he should be able to recover”. P.T replied.

Lettie made her way to the bed and sat down next to Anne.

Anne was still staring at Phillip’s face as she held his hand. Lettie placed a supportive hand on Anne’s shoulder.

“He is a fighter, he will pull through this” Lettie said.

Anne didn’t take her eyes off Phillip, but she nodded in agreement as tears silently spilled down her cheeks.

Lettie knew that Anne was blaming herself for this. That’s just how Anne is. She knew she had to talk to Anne, to reassure her that this was not her fault, but now wasn’t the time.

“I’m going to call for a carriage to take Phillip back to my place” P.T said. “I’ll need your help getting him to my place.”

P.T knew he didn’t have to ask for help, in fact he was going to have a hard time keeping the whole circus from crashing at his house once they all found out what happened.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again I want to thank you all for your continued support and patience while I work on this story. There are times I am quite proud of this story seeing that it is my very first fanfic and then there are times I want to delete it completely because I am embarrassed at how poorly I am writing it, so whenever I get a kudos or a comment it really helps me stay the course and finish the story.  
> The next few weekends are going to be crazy for me, but I am hoping that I can have a new chapter up in 7 days, but every time I promise to have a chapter up by a certain time I always end up delaying it. Just know I am going to finish this story!   
> Love you all!!!


	20. ***UPDATE***

Hey all,   
I am so sorry for falling off the radar. I thought for sure I would be able to finish this fanfic once summer break started, but my father (who was only 58yrs old) suddenly became ill and I had to be there with him to try to figure out what was going on and trying to get Medicare (he was on disability due to a life-threatening illness 15yrs who that left him physically disabled) to cover his treatment. It was a lot and I found myself completely exhausted, both physically and mentally.   
Sadly, as hard as we tried and as hard as my dad fought, his body began to shut down. My dad made it abubdently clear he wanted a DNR, absolutely NO life support. He said “if my body fails just let nature take its course.   
Well he body began to fail. He went from talking to me on day to forgetting who I was the next. His behaviors were that of someone with dementia. He didn’t know his name or where he was or who I was. I had an amazing relationship with my dad and I was lucky to live just a block away from him for many years.   
After his mind went his body began to shut down. He needed oxygen and blood pressure medication to keep his heart rate and blood pressure normal. Every item we weened him off his vitals crashed. My dad was completely unresponsive at this point. I had to make the tough decision to place him in “comfort care” which is just a nice term for in-patient hospice care. He was in pain, he was terrified and I knew this was the end. The oxygen and blood pressure meds were the only thing keeping him alive and he told me to not let him suffer and have his life drag out having to rely on any form of life support.   
Comfort care slowly weened him off the oxygen and blood pressure meds and gave him all the pain meds and anxiety meds he needed to be comfortable. Within 6hrs of removing just the oxygen mask (not intubated bc he has a DNI/DNR) and blood pressure meds he passed away.   
I cannot express how lost I felt. I felt like I signed my dad’s death warrant even though he begged me to make sure his wishes were followed if he ever crashed again. His quality of life was poor for a long time and I think his body finally gave out. Still, I hated myself for being the one to sign the papers, but every doctor and specialist told me this was the best thing for him...to make him comfortable.   
He passed away peacefully June 30th.   
I don’t know when I will get around to finishing this story. I think my plan will be to go through each chapter and edit it better, and hopefully I can finish it but I still have days where I physically hurt from the sadness I feel. I talked to my dad almost daily and my kids and I saw him often. My 8yr old and 5yr old are not taking their “papa” being gone.  
I will finish this fanfic and I thank everyone for every kudos and hit! I just wanted you all to know what happened.   
Please, don’t take life for granted. We are not guaranteed tomorrow; so live life to it’s fullest. Thank you all for being so supportive of my first fanfic and I hope I can finish it for you all soon.

**Author's Note:**

> I tried really hard to summarize events of the movie without getting to long-winded. Hopefully I was able to string all the thoughts in my head well. I promise the other characters will get more story time in the following chapters. As always please let me know what you think, I only ask that you remain respectful. This is my first fanfic so I welcome any notes you all have.


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